Month: November 2021

I have found much joy in painting small portraits. It all happened very gradually, but it all started when I visited and saw works by Thomas Dewing, especially of small female figures that he painted on small canvases.

My figure studies have expanded to accommodate smaller figures, too. When I am traveling and seeing people, I try to capture the entire figure into my small sketchbook.

Sketching small portraits with oil color has become my favorite and preferred way of drawing recently. Using limited palette, I can draw, paint, and refine my painting as much as I need to.

Winslow Homer is another American Painter that executed small figures, who told incredible stories on small canvases. The Veteran in a New Field is a good example of such works.

November has been a good painting m0nth, and I am getting closer to acquiring much of the technical skills I need to begin my own projects.

It’s hard to believe December is just a few days away. As we are trying to close out this year with positive news, we were hit with yet another COVID variant worries and updated travel restrictions. We can’t worry about what we don’t have control over, though.

If you have been following me on Instagram, you know that I have been drawing and painting 100 portraits–I gave it a new hashtag #100humanchallenge.

There were many reasons to do these portraits, but besides improving the way I see and execute portraits, another reason was to get familiar with Social Media platforms to better find and engage my selective audience as I become a better painter.

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Painting and drawing these portraits has been great. Many of the faces are of my colleagues and friends; some are new models and friends that I have meet via zoom or in-person.

It has been super nice to be painting from life, btw…

I will likely be sad to finish all 100 portraits. These works have created a venue for me to constantly produce portraits and figures, helping me to find my painting process.

As I am wrapping up these #100humanchallege, I will be starting a whole new line of projects so stay tuned!

Thanks for reading. I try to keep these posts short and sweet.

Cheers!

There is so much freedom and happy accidents when painting fast using oil colors. It can be 1000 times more exciting when you have a live model in front you, and you only give yourself one sitting to finish the portrait in that given amount of time. I have done many of these in my days, and here is a little secret that I found when engaged in such dangerous activity:

Time moves differently.

So Maybe that’s just it. Is that why I am hooked on painting people? The adrenaline rush really hits you when you got all your paints out, paint brush strokes flying on and off the canvas, and you see the portrait real itself to you one stroke at a time. It is a movie–or a battle–that nobody can really see but you. I suppose such painting fight is similar to a gladiator in a colosseum–killing or getting killed. Okay. Okay. Maybe not that dramatic, but you get the idea.

Anyways, after the rush of painting fast fades, I really enjoy slow pace of a long pose that goes on day after day, marching to the last day of painting like all of us marching to the end of our days.

Happy Sunday!

PS: I made this silly reel for my Instagram Post earlier this week.

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