Portraits In Progress

It's portrait season for me right now.  I have these three going simultaneously at various stages of completion.

Óbidos, Portugal - View From The Wall

White washed walls + red-tiled roofs + sunny day = fun to paint.

This Portuguese medieval village of Óbidos has been around "since forever", as the local brochure states.

"View From The Wall"   9" x 12"   Oil

Art of the Portrait Conference - The Twenty Finalists

Here are the twenty finalists in the Portrait Society of America's 2013 International Portrait Competition.

(in alphabetical order)

Leslie Adams

T. J. Cunningham

Marina Dieul

Kerry Dunn

Glenn Harrington

Seth Haverkamp

Jeffrey Hein

David Kassan

Cheng Lian

Serge Marchennik

Lliya Mirochnik

Greg Mortenson

Richard Christian Nelson

Alicia Ponzio

Mardie Rees

Lynn Sanguedolce

Mary Sauer

Ardith Starostka

Katherine Stone

Jennifer Welty



Congratulations to Grand Prize winner Leslie Adams!

"Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl"   60" x 41"    Charcoal

You can check out the Portrait Society of America's Face Book page to see the other award winners.

Art of the Portrait Conference - Day Three

Jeff Hein's "Face-Off" competition portrait received the most votes from the Portrait Society of America's "Art of the Portrait" conference attendees.  Here's his painting.

The winner of the "Face-Off" competition gets to do a demo in front of the audience of 800.  No pressure!  Jeff kept us entertained as he painted the talented Katherine Stone, one of the twenty finalists in this year's International Competition. 

When the model took a break, Jeff turned the painting upside down to better evaluate the structure of the face and to easily see any adjustments that needed to be made to the drawing.  (In the picture below you can see him painting it upside down while Katherine looks on.)

Next up...the twenty finalists and the grand prize winner.

Art of the Portrait Conference 2013 - Day Two

Day two of the Portrait Society of America conference began with an "Oil and Water" demo by Michael Shane Neal and Mary Whyte. They painted in oil and watercolor, respectively, and worked from the same model, artist Sam Adoquei.  The audience could view the progress on large screens in the auditorium.

Later on, James Gurney, author and artist best know for his illustrated book series "Dinotopia", gave an entertaining presentation about his experiences of sketching "in the wild".  It was truly inspiring to see his dedication to drawing from life wherever he travels.  He had many stories about interesting and sometimes hilarious encounters with people and animals as he sketched them. (Check out his entertaining and informative blog at Gurney Journey.)

The "Face-Off" winner's demo next...