Portrait of Donna by Dan S.

Portrait painting

Here is a painting recently done of my wife while she sat outdoors. The original drawing was done from life but I had to complete the painting from a reference photo that I took. (She was way too impatient to pose for a painting for as long as it takes me.)

This was a difficult painting for me for a couple of reasons.

For one, after I transferred my drawing to canvas I kept finding problems in my original drawing that I attempted to correct in paint. In moving on from drawing to painting, I’ve discovered that I sometimes have a tendency to “push” objects around a bit so that my nice, well proportioned drawing does not look so nice if I am not very careful to maintain the lines and positions of my original drawing.

Also, this particular outdoor pose had a complicated lighting situation. She was seated under a canopy with part of the face lit from direct sunlight under the canopy and part from diffuse light coming through the canopy. Also the right edge was lit from a background reflective surface. Trying to paint the planes of the head realistically under those circumstances was trying.

I think sometimes it may be better to try painting a simpler object just to capture the same light pattern and then when I have it right, try it on the main subject. Certainly, I can now see how beneficial it is to study the planes of the head under many lighting conditions.