Tag Archives: portrait painting

Dark and Near Black Color Blends in Oil Painting

I had an itch to get some practice with dark oil painting color blends, partially inspired by wanting to improve on a prior portrait painting that featured tons of darkness with small bright highlights. I thought I’d take a shot at similar concepts again, really pushing myself to practice some blends. With this piece, I used a few different mixes

Read more

Figure Poses and Light on Fabric in Oil Portraits

Sometimes I just paint without any specific reason or goal, but with this piece I actually had a couple specific things I wanted to practice. I was talking with some colleagues about my appreciation for John Singer Sargent’s paintings, particularly Lady Agnew of Locknaw. I love the way Sargent captured the nature of light on fabric, and a nature instinct

Read more

Figure Study with Natural Subject Stance

This painting is one of my favorites – it features a woman in a nature scene that has a number of aspects that are appealing to me just from an art-enjoyment standpoint. I like the figure pose and natural standing position the subject has, as well as the impressionist-inspired landscape around her. I had a lot of fun with this

Read more