Third in my 15 photo portrait challenge.

Fun parts to work on: his face is slightly to side and his chin is up a bit. Wow.

And he’s a handsome man. And it was hard to capture his expression.

I warmed up using a sponge and blue paint to explore light and dark and his face position. I think the curves of his eyelids were critical somehow!

Or simply discovering something else along the way??

Trying to mix up some colors for a sunflower painting. Was not hitting a match in colors of photograph.

But not wanting to waste paint . . . I painted over a canvas I had.

Used all the color, but was looking for more definition:

And one for MJK:

First pass at #2. Started by following the shapes of the shadows. I will try this one again.

I was thinking of lights and darks while at my church retreat.

My accommodations!

Waters Avenue sky

First of 15 charcoal portraits from BECU ads.

More Mom art, this time using Russian postage stamps.

I’m having a bit of a struggle locating the paper that we used in class in Portland. A couple of days ago, I smeared the remains of my palette onto an available piece of newsprint. That resulted in an inviting swirl.

So today I built on that pleasing swirl.

The Garry oak is native to Washington. It’s a beautiful tree with a lovely shape.

I got some colored pastels to try, since I like charcoal so much. I wondered how it would be similar or different from charcoal, and how colors might blend.

It’s been a long time since I’ve heard a good solid rain. So lovely.