⛱ Beach Beauty #2

034/2 Beach Beauty #2 002

This week at Hobbycraft a customer expressed interest into whether Beach Beauty was up for sale after it had been displayed on the Store Window.  The Store Manager has this week taken the display down but is hoping to re-position them somewhere else in store.  At the moment it is in storage in the Hobbycraft warehouse.

This week I am going to set a challenge for myself of making a complete new copy of this piece for myself.  And I want to try and get it as close as I can to that original.  

To follow I only have my original template, photos and blog entries for when I painted that original piece in late June 2021.

1.Painting of the Background

2. Drawing around the template and adding important details.

3. Starting on the skin 'BASE' colour.  This took three to four good coats to cover up the blue.

4A. Areas covered by 'Warm Glow'

4B. More Areas covered by 'Warm Glow'

5. 'Highlights' 'Titanium White' and 'Dark Shadows' are then added.

5. I have now painted her hair and facial features in Mars Black and with a fine brush.  Starting to really take good shape now.

6. I coloured the sunny areas of the Swimsuit in a nice cream colour.  It took a few layers to cover up the blue of course

7. And I then painted the shaded darker areas of the Swimsuit

8.  I have now added the twinkle in her eye, a splash of red on her lips, a belt and I added some detail on her swim hat too.

9.  I have now painted the towel a Burgundy, Wine colour like the original.  I wanted to try and create the feel of a nice thick and fluffy towel

10. Time to paint the sea in.  To create a smooth straight horizon I used an Electrician's insulation tape as it works better than masking tape.

11. I have added in the foam, sand and the lady's shadow

Artist's Notes: So the challenge here was to recreate an earlier piece as closely as possible and improve any areas which I felt necessary.  Well, I passed this test easily.  This has been recreated following my 'How I painted a 1920's Beach Beauty' Blog Post from 5th June.

💋 Marilyn

042 - Marilyn

So with this one I decided to paint the whole canvas panel with Titanium White to begin with, before even putting on the Masking Tape borders.  After it had dried it gave the canvas a bit of a yellowy tinge.  I thought it was probably what Gesso (a primer) is but I am not sure that is correct.  I am yet to discover if Gesso is worth doing or not.  Painting the canvas panel white to begin with certainly has made a smoother surface to draw upon.  

I guess the only way I can learn if Gesso makes a difference is to buy some and try it out.  

I have drawn around my template of Marilyn Monroe and drawn in other details too.  At the moment she looks very goofy and frightening but remember this is a rough guide.  I always try not to put in too much detail at this point as it can bog you down and I like to try and keep it nice and simple.

The skin of the face and neck areas are first painted with  3 coats of the Base Colour.  The Eyebrows and Lips have been coated in one layer of the base colour.  And with every new layer will be now left clear until painting those areas.

Warm Glow has now been added.

Highlights are now added.  On the right cheek in this pic it looks as if I have added some darker shading but is where the paint has smudged the pencil.

On top of the Highlights layer I added a Titanium White layer too.  I then added the Light Shadows.

And in this photo above I have now added the Darker Shadows.  I am having a break from it at the moment but as I always do, I am sitting back and examining photos of my work and I can easily pick out areas that need extra attention.  The main one so far is the Right Brow area looks the wrong shape.  I'm haven't quite made up my mind yet but I think the dark shadows might be a little too dark.  I also want to try and make the skin look smooth.  Marilyn Monroe was such a glamour icon I do not want her skin to look lumpy and bumpy with craters!  It is quite a challenge but it is one I am enjoying.

I went back to Marilyn and corrected the eyebrow on the right and then carried on with all the facial features.  And as I thought as soon as the eyes were there the whole face just came alive.  Mega pleased with this so far.  There is absolutely no mistaking who this is meant to be a painting of.

Now I will look at my latest photo and see again if there is anything that needs adjustment. 

It is good for me to be critical as it makes me do the very best painting that I can.  But I have learnt to only start work on the adjustment after much thought of exactly what course of action to take.

It is very strange how I can only spot the areas needing extra work when I am looking at a photo of it.  I guess, where I am looking at the actual piece in such detail while working on it I am not looking at it as someone else will.  The photo shows it as a whole and any adjustments normally present themselves within the first few seconds of examination.

After close inspection of this piece, I think the Mouth in its left corner looks a little awkward and also the space between the eyes at the bridge of the nose needs to even up a bit too.  Marilyn had the perfect facial bone structure, but so far this Marilyn does not. 😊

So this morning I have worked on the areas which I highlighted as needing work.  They have made strong but subtle differences.  I will now leave the bottom left lip alone as I don't think I can improve that area any more.  The bridge of the nose still needs something and what really stands out to me during this inspection was the left highbrow maybe needs extending more.  The jury is still out on that at this present time.  

One area I will work on next is the Philtrum area between the nose and the top lip.  The centre of the Cupids Bow is a few millimetres off from where I think it should be.  This shouldn't be a huge job but I must have a clear idea of what action to take before starting.  I should only need to use both lip reds and the 'highlight' skin colour to rectify this.

Hopefully the picture above demonstrates what I mean about the Philtrum area.

It may well be only a small detail but once I had spotted it I just had to change it as I would forever be drawn to it.  I think it looks a lot better for the change too.  I have finished the face for now.  The finishing touch to this piece will be the beauty spot mole on the right cheek.  It has not been forgotten.  

So as you can see I have decided to leave the face alone now and this afternoon I have been working on Background, Shoulders and her Top.  The Shoulder on the right needs a little more highlighting with Titanium White which I have noted from this last photo.

I have now made a start on the hair.  This will need as much work as the face has has had.  I started off by using brown to mark the darker areas of the hair and then went over all the hair (including all brown areas) with the Highlights (Skin Tone).  This seems to have fitted the colour match very well.  I have also used some cream that I had already mixed and have used titanium white for hairs highlights.  There is a lot of detail to work on here, so I really do not want to rush this stage.

In fresh daylight this morning I have carried on working on Marilyn's Platinum Blonde hair.  There are a lot of colours used in here.  Yesterday I used some dark brown on shady areas and today I have painted over them relying on the dark to show through and lighten the shade.  It is working well.  

Maybe the hair doesn't need as much work as I previously thought.  I think it could be very easy to overdo it.  At the moment, on the hair there is nothing jumping out at me saying it needs improvement either.  

I went on from here to tidy up what was left and finished up around the ears, earrings and beauty mark.  Really very happy with it!

👝👠👒 Ladies Day!

038 Ladies Day
(Based on Page Turner by Malika Favre)

                                   
 

On the computer I flipped the original image round that I found on google, just to make it slightly different from the original.  I printed and cut out the woman only.  I am going to put a back to her dress, I don't like the open back.  I also decided to not give her a book in my version, well she isn't reading it anyway!!

As you can see I have drawn around the template in the above picture.  I have also sketched in the rest of the detail.  

The rest of this easy project is basically colouring in with Acrylic Paints.  

For the background here I have used Coeruleum Blue Hue.  

For the Hat and Dress I have used Mars Black. 

For Shaded Areas I used the 'Shadows' shade that I use in skin normally.  

For the Brighter areas of skin I used Soft Skin.  

The Lips were Permanent Rose, Teeth and Eye Whites were Titanium White and the eyes and brows were all Mars Black and a very fine brush.

Artist Notes: This was a really nice simple piece that was quick and fun to do. 

👩‍🦰 The Self Portrait - More difficult than you think!

037 Seven year old Me

(fig.1)

So I decided it was finally time to attempt a picture of myself.  At least if I mess it up it's only me I can offend!  

This photo was taken at primary school in 1978 (long before we had to wear a uniform) and it seems like a good choice, but oh good god did I hate that dress?!  

I am using my usual technique of printing the picture, cutting it out to make a template and then copying the rest in.

I also decided to paint the background before using the template (fig.1)

(fig.2)

                                

This picture looks so freaky!  

I wanted to put into practice the skills I have learned recently with skin colours and tones.  I started off as usual by painting the base colour (fig 1).  This is 

Pebeo Acrylic Paint in a 59ml bottle called 'Soft Skin' Matt.

Because the background was quite dark in this case, I needed to do a few layers of this base colour (waiting for each layer to dry, before applying the next) to give a really good covering.  If you have to do this be careful not to 'cake' the paint on.  This will show through and at the end when it is completed the overall finish of the piece can look tacky and very noticeable.  Apply the paint in small amounts and really spread it out.

(fig.3)

                                   

Once the base layer was completed in all areas where skin is visible it was time to add the next shade, Warm Glow as shown in fig.3. 

 This was made by mixing the following colours

Pebeo Acrylic Paint in a 59ml bottle called'Soft Skin' Matt.

Pebeo Acrylic Paint in a 59ml bottle called 'Rose' Matt

I applied this in areas where the skin looked pinky and warm in the photo.

(fig.4)

Fig. 4 shows the 'Highlights' stage added.  This was mixed using the following colours.

Pebeo Acrylic Paint in a 59ml bottle called 'Soft Skin' Matt.

Pebeo Studio Acrylics 'high viscosity' Titanium White Opaque

just to add a higher level of Highlight you can use the white on its own in areas of high brightness like the tip of the nose or around the eyes too.

(fig.5)

It rather does depend on the piece you are doing as to what colours you use for each of these elements.  Whenever painting a persons face it is advisable to always remember the key points.  I always do them in this order too.

 

1. Base

2. Warm Glow

3. Highlights 

4. Shadows

Now it is time to add in the Shadows (shown in fig.5) and this makes the face really come to life now.  I used two extra shades for Shadows 

Pebeo Acrylic Paint in a 59ml bottle called'Soft Skin' Matt.

Hobbycraft Acrylic Paint in 60ml bottle called 'Tan'

and

Pebeo Acrylic Paint in a 59ml bottle called'Soft Skin' Matt.

Hobbycraft Acrylic Paint in 60ml bottle called 'Tan'

Pebeo Acrylic Paint in a 59ml bottle called 'Brick Red' Matt**

** PLEASE NOTE THOUGH TO MIX THIS COLOUR I USED A TEENY TINY AMOUNT OF THIS COLOUR

Just as I had added extra Highlight (white) areas I have also added extra Shadow (grey) areas too.  (Fig.5).

(fig.6)

So in fig.6 I have painted the eyes in. If I am going to be hyper-critical the eye on the right looks bigger than the left one.  And also fig.6 also shows a slight mess up in the shading of the cheek on the left.

For the eyes I used black and greys that I already had mixed. I tried to use colours as close to that area of the original picture as possible.

(fig.7)

In fig.7 I have drawn in my teeth and painted them with the Highlights colour that I use in the skin. For the shiniest whiter bits I put in a dab of Titanium White.

I then stood back and observed. Looks OK. I took this photo (fig.7) and on close inspection of that I decided that the space of the chin (between bottom lip and bottom of chin) looked far the big, by a whole 4-5 mm.

(fig.8)

Fig.8 shows the adjustments made to the mouth area and chin. I still need to stand back and really inspect it but I think its looking ok so far.  The eye on the right does need something but I haven't quite figured out what yet.  The laugh line on the right cheek needs more shadow too.  All these tiny adjustments make a huge difference when completed.  You never know, I might get it spot on, I doubt it but you never know!

Fig.8 also shows that I have used Burnt Umber as my 'base' colour for the hair. I have only done the base colour so far and am having a break

(fig.9)

So after close inspection of the recent photo (fig.8) I altered areas that I thought needed attention.  The laugh line on the right, the eye on the right has downsized a little and I added more definition to the chin.  I then worked on the hair.  (Fig.9) is before I worked on the hair.  I mixed a light brown colour and tried to speckle thin wispy lines all over and mixing in with the brush the base Brown.  There is also some black in there too.

Then the very last thing to do was the white trim on the dress.

While it does look better to me I cannot tell if it looks like me or not.  I think not. 
Though I should be very proud of this, it is by far the best ever self portrait I have ever done, I am slightly disappointed with it too. 

🐪 Moroccan Arches

035 Moroccan Arches

Artists Notes: My other name for this while working on it has been 'a pain in the derrière' as the acrylic paint I originally used for the front wall went really strange.  This particular tube was a bit old and I think the heat had effected it today.  Anyway it has now ended up in the bin. I started this particular piece again from scratch however.  I think it looks so much better for starting again.

A simple quick piece which ended up taking the whole day!

The following photos show how the original piece developed.

It was all going so nicely, but now we have got to the dodgy paint bit.  I gave it extra layers in the hope that it would get better, but it just got worse and worse.  This is where I decided to scrap it and start again.

 Good job too I think 👍👍