Bold woman's portrait

Bold
Ok, for today's portrait I went out of the box and decided to try a different look and approach. This is on watercolor paper, I applied a layer of paper collate over it (you can see that some of it started lifting - so got to use more medium to glue it next time)  Anyway then I tried to leave part of that under collage showing, even in the face.  Went back in and applied several more light lawyers of transparent and opaque paint and then put in the hair using my dagger bus.   Gosh that brush makes hair so much easier

While this might not the best example what are your thoughts to taking portraits this more dynamic direction?

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look.

Comments

Joan Tavolott said…
I really like this. The richness of the color really makes it stand out. The colors and movement of her hair and background, especially on the left is great!!!
October 19, 2018 at 6:37 PM
Sheila said…
Love this!! Again, her eyes are just drawing me in. I love the style and textures. Yes, more please :)
October 20, 2018 at 4:58 AM
hmuxo said…
Wonderful portrait Nelvia!! Loved your previous painting of freckles!!! I commented but it never showed up!! You're doing so well with your portraiture paintings!!!! I look forward to your next one!!!
October 20, 2018 at 8:44 AM
Mellowood Gallery said…
the texture is very interesting Nelvia and I like the colours you chose - great job!
October 20, 2018 at 12:06 PM
carol edan said…
Beautiful portrait! Were the collage papers plain? Great to get out of the box, so much more interesting!
October 21, 2018 at 4:55 AM
Nelvia said…
Not sure if this comment will go through as the others didn't.
October 21, 2018 at 9:45 AM
Nelvia said…
Will try again, I had another picture in mind to do but when I saw the background I thought this was the better choice. I fell in love with her hair and eyes.
October 21, 2018 at 9:46 AM
Nelvia said…
You know I love to do the eyes. She was just so confident and bold. Wow. Yes there are definitely going to be more trials in this direction.
October 21, 2018 at 9:46 AM
Nelvia said…
I don't know what is going on with social media these days, they all seem to have problems. Thanks much Hilda. I always count on you guys to tell me like it is and if I am getting too far out there, to reel me in.
October 21, 2018 at 9:47 AM
Nelvia said…
Have more ideas for texture and right now am enjoying that and mark making. Not sure how to make marks on a portrait and pull that off, but well, will give it a try.
October 21, 2018 at 9:48 AM
Nelvia said…
Thanks Carol, I sure like working with color more than just black and white, too stark a contrast, but it sure does help working with values. This has newspaper, magazine color pages and brown paper bag as the paper on the under collage or "underpants" as one artist calls it. You can see some of the newsprint in the cheek area, but a lot of it was lost in the end.
October 21, 2018 at 9:49 AM
Robie Benve said…
What a powerful portrait Nelvia! It's full of mystery and personality, I'd love to have a long conversation with her. The collage, including the "wrinkles", add drama to it. Love it.
October 24, 2018 at 8:42 AM
Nelvia said…
Thanks Robie, it is fun now trying to do different faces using the combination of media, it is very freeing to see how to get to the vision.
October 26, 2018 at 9:29 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Her Highness mixed media woman portrait

Image
Her Highness   I just absolutely loved the expression on this lady and knew I wanted to try to capture her elegance and serenity.  I knew that I didn't want an exact portrait and decided to try another mixed media piece.    I added blobs of paint and used my large scraper to make the areas of color.  Just put paint on a piece of watercolor paper.  Then I inscribed and mixed the colors together with the end of my brush and got all the wavy lines (in real life they actually stand up so there is a 3D effect to the background).  Where I thought I wanted the face I really scraped most of the paint off, and ended up with color blotches and tones, and if you look in the forehead you can sort of see the design that was left.  I thought it would add some variance to the skin tones. I also want to keep her very soft so I tried to stay in the pastel tones, even with the lips.   Once I got shadows and lights added in, and went over it with some skin tone and more blue colors I let
Read more

In The Garden acrylic painting Redo

Image
In The Garden Original painting Well, thankfully I have some folks who tell me what they think.  I value their objective opinions very much and appreciate that they feel strongly enough to tell me when they feel something is off.  In the original painting no one liked the addition of the yellow flower, and felt it pulled the eye and overshadowed the focal point.   Well, I sat on it a bit and starting playing with how I could work it back into the composition.  I wanted the third flower, but I couldn't just really dull down the yellow.  As you an see I ended up making it darker in shadows and then burying it into the foliage.  I like it better because it now looks, to me, like it is part of the picture instead of just being put on in the corner.  Moral of the story, fix it first because it is hard to come in and match colors later. What do you think of the changes - for better or worse? Thanks much for stopping by and taking a look.
Read more