Oil Paintings
Wedding, Historical, & Personal Portraits
"I leave you my portrait so that you will have my presence all the days and nights that I am away from you."
- Frida Kahlo
Detail of Wedding Portrait
This was painted on a 10 x 10" birch wood cradled panel.
After varnishing the finished painting, I adorned the
outer edges with dried flowers & greenery from the
bride's original bouquet (below).
Oil Painting + Sepia
8 x 10" oil paint on canvas, 2019.
Choose full color, sepia, greyscale,
or a custom color scheme
I paint on many surfaces including wood panel, canvas panel, and stretched canvas.
For most commissions I prefer canvas panel,
a stiff board with a primed canvas overlay -
as it is easily shipped and framed. Wood panel is wonderful for smaller pieces, and stretched canvas is ideal for paintings 16x20" or larger.
The Painting Process
My first step is always to tone my canvas with a medium value color; this allows future layers of paint to really come alive and helps me attain a full range of lights and dark in a painting. I generally choose a neutral or cool tone, and in this case decided on a bright yet mellow blue.
I lightly sketch the portrait in graphite pencil before going in with an initial painted sketch to establish accurate proportion and block in the darkest values.
I mix up a a series of flesh tones to begin filling in the face. This is the first layer of paint where I am mindful of color gradients but not overly meticulous on detail.
This initial layer is thin and therefore slightly transparent, which allows the blue canvas to glow through. This can be beneficial in close up portraits because faces often have areas of blue-green tones. Some areas of the painting are already finished at this stage, and won't need to be retouched.
Once the first layer of the face is filled in, I allow it to dry completely - this usually takes 3-5 days.
During the drying time I can (carefully) attend to other areas of the painting like eyes, lips, hair, clothing, and background.
Soon it is time for another layer of skin tone, where
I focus on accurate saturation and warmth, as well as LOTS of blending.
I fill the background with a gradient of gentle blues and greens to play off the pinkish hues of her features. Smaller details in the eyes, lips, and ears are added, and the hair is filled in.
Final details are rendered, background is filled, and the painting is finished!
I allow a full 5 days of dry time before carefully packaging and shipping it off to its new home.
If you live locally, I prefer to deliver art personally. This ensures safe shipment at less cost to me and
in less time for you!
