Portrait Update

Brother and sister on pink plastic carrying case

The portrait above has been a real pleasure to paint; the person who gave me the materials is an artist and really knew how to pick a great photo and a fabulous surface on which to paint. The color alone is really fun to be working with and against as I apply color. Like all the surfaces, it comes with its challenges. There is something slightly unreceptive about the plastic, so that the paint, especially as I apply multiple layers one on top of the other as I try to get the likenesses just right, almost seems to "crawl" a little, but overall, I LOVE this surface. The images below are all the remaining portraits that I will be executing. I have "dragged my feet" on the portrait below because the surface is a bit scary...It is a vintage foil paper wrapped around a cardboard gift box. I have thought long and hard about how to isolate the surface from the ravages of oil paint, and I explained the problem to the person who gave me the materials when they initially asked about it's usability. In the end, I applied two polyurethane-like coating layers to the surface. I hope that the recipient of the portrait understands the extremely experimental nature of this surface preparation!

young man on vintage foil covered box

Woman and baby on woven placemat

I have applied a coating of medium to the fabric where I intend to paint the image. This project has its own logic, I keep thinking of the "shroud of Turin" because the photo image is very blurry and kind of indistinct and so I expect to make a portrait that sort of has the appearance of "materializing"  onto the placemat....

rider on helmet visor

progress on the pink carrying case