Tag Archives: portrait

Italian Eating Italian: Intimate Spaces, Breaking Bread Series

Posted on June 14, 2020 | Comments Off

Italian Eating Italian – Intimate Spaces, Breaking Bread Series. Acrylic on canvas, 24 x 30. Kit Miracle

Painting a portrait head on is a bit challenging. However, the distinct lighting of this portrait helps define the features. The painting has a very robust feeling; a man eating a piece of bread and drinking some vino.

Italian Eating Italian, detail, chin. Notice the reflective light on the chin and neck. Also notice that I rarely use a direct white paint. Most of my whites are mixed to add more vibrancy.

If you look carefully at the closeups, you can see that although I paint in a loose impressionistic style, the brush strokes are sure and vibrant. I’ve been working with some colorful and contrasting lines which add a bit of spark to the painting. The colorful outlines are not always related to the painting as far as contrasts go, but sometimes they are.

Italian Eating Italian, detail, hand and glass of wine. Here you see the wine glass, slight angle, gripped by the hand but all loosely painted.

Italian Eating Italian, detail. Hand with piece of bread. The challenge here was to paint a piece of rustic white bread against a white shirt.

This is another painting in the Intimate Spaces – Breaking Bread Series.

Comments Off on Italian Eating Italian: Intimate Spaces, Breaking Bread Series

Posted in contemporary impressionism, painting instruction

Tagged acrylic, contemporary impressionist, kit miracle, painting instruction, portrait

Evolution of a painting

Posted on November 20, 2019 | 3 comments

Barry, portrait in acrylic on linen, 28 x 34. Kit Miracle

Except for plein air painting and sketching, it’s pretty rare that I create a painting by just diving in and slapping some paint on canvas. Yes, I know, movies and biopics of artists give that impression. But really, it’s hard work and, for me at least, requires a lot of preliminary work.

When I’m doing a portrait, which is to me the most difficult to achieve, I always begin with some preliminary sketches. Generally I begin with some charcoal sketches. Sometimes one is enough but more often it’s several.

Barry, preliminary charcoal sketch. Kit Miracle

After that, I may try some color sketches on canvas paper or panels.

In this case, I had recently been gifted with some art supplies by a friend who was moving so I proceeded to a conte crayon study on pastel paper.

Barry, conte crayon. on pastel paper.

The next step was to do a larger oil stick pastel, also on pastel paper.

Barry, oil stick pastel on pastel paper. Kit Miracle

The final painting was created on a large stretched linen canvas 28 x 34. I had already primed it some time ago with a dark neutral background and some splashes of color in the center.

I sketched in the main figure with charcoal. Then, sanded the primary area and gessoed it again. Then sketched over that again with charcoal. A little spray fixative set the charcoal so the painting process would not pick it up. I decided to leave the background unfinished with just the initial undercoats of paint.

The figure is painted in acrylic very loosely but with attention to detail in the face and hand. The primary difference with painting a human portrait as opposed to painting a building or landscape is that if you’re off a brick or leaf in the landscape, no one will know. But if you’re off a quarter of an inch on a nose, you have totally missed the mark in capturing a portrait. At least in my opinion.

What do you think?

3 Comments

Posted in art, painting instruction, portrait

Tagged art, conte crayon, contemporary impressionist, kit miracle, oil stick pastel, painting instruction, portrait, toned canvas

The Huntress I and II, oil on canvas

Posted on October 1, 2017 | Comments Off

The Huntress I – oil on canvas, 20 x 20, Kit Miracle

The Huntress II – oil on canvas, 20 x 20, Kit Miracle

The Huntress I and II are two paintings that I created earlier this year. Although I have often created a series of paintings, this is the first time that I created a pair of paintings. They each stand alone from a design view, but work better as a pair.

My aim here was to create a bit of mystery, to simplify the background and the figure, and to play off the high intensity light without adding a harshness to the scene

Check out the step-by-step page to learn more about how I made these beautiful pair. https://my90acres.com/artwork/the-huntress-i-and-ii-step-by-step/

Comments Off on The Huntress I and II, oil on canvas

Posted in contemporary impressionism, oil painting, painting instruction

Tagged art, contemporary impressionist, country living, hunting, kit miracle, oil painting, painting instruction, portrait, toned canvas

How do you know when your painting is finished?

Posted on September 1, 2012 | Comments Off

How do I know when my painting is finished?

That is a question I often ask myself. For me, the answer is when I can’t think of one more thing to add. Then STOP!

I’ve noticed that when I’ve taught a class, particularly a watercolor class, that sometimes the participants keep messing with their paintings until …well, they’re a mess. Stop! In the case of watercolors, leave some white space. Leave some space, period. When I’m working in oils, that is a little more difficult but I always try to avoid the overworked look. With oils, I stand back and just LOOK. It seems the closer I get to the final product, the more time I spend looking. Sometimes it is even best to put it away for a while. That advice is often offered to young artists but it’s true. Sometimes after you’ve come back to your work with a few weeks off, the errors will jump out at you. Other times, you’ll realize that you’ve nailed it.

I ask myself, what am I aiming for? What is my message? Despite painting in a realistic style most of the time, I am not aiming for anything approaching photo realism. If you want it to look like a photo, then take a damn picture! I’m looking for the message. What struck me most about this subject? What am I really trying to convey? When is enough enough?

Wolf Eyes, detail, oil on canvas

This is a close-up view of a painting that I’m working on right now entitled Wolf Eyes. I’m just about at the point where…there’s nothing left to add. Time to set it aside for a while. I’ll put it on my website when do finish it. The message that I’m shooting for is the young man in his prime, he is oozing with virility and he knows it. Wolf Eyes.