Portrait Painting in the Studio of Artist Eddie Filer Jr.

I was one day thinking about doing a portrait painting since it had been a little while since I had done one.  I thought that it would be really good to share with my readers who are interested in art especially portrait painting.  Portrait painting is approached in different ways for many artists.  I just like the beginning stage and the stage where I can see the features emerge from out of the ugly stage.  Speaking of the ugly stage of a painting you must believe that what you are doing will bring you to your desired expectation.   I guess you can say that you paint by faith believing that what your goal is for a particular subject will come out in the way you intented.  I will share with you the follow stages of the process.

In the first stage stained the whole canvas with deluted paint using yellow ochre and burnt sienna.  I used a small round brush number 2 to draw in the porportions.  

Now I have painted in the dark tone values in the portrait which will serve as a foundation structure through out the rest of the painting.  I used all burnt umber for the phase.

As you can see, I have at this point of the painting have entered into the ugly stage.  I mixed some yellow ochre and burnt sienna.  I pretty much block in all the lightest value with this color mixture.

 

Now I have placed in the light value in the beard and mustash.  I have filled in the general form for the eye socket.  You can also see the lips in it's form.

Now I have started to put in the eye brow and added some darks in the beard.  At this point, I have placed in the shadow underneath the chin that is casting down onto the neck.  Also the eye ball is now painted into the eye socket.

Now I have started to place in the details such as the eye glasses and teeth.  The beard is developed even more with the merging of values using the darks and lights in the beard.

Here it is the end of the process for painting this portrait I was very pleased with the result considering I approached this painting in a more loose way.  The shirt is full painted and the hair on the head is complete by adding some dark values.  Thank you so much for reading my blog and you can see the complete development of the portrait on my YouTube channel Dee Weaver Art.  Here is the link  https://youtu.be/f9Q-ygH-vGI

Drawing of the the Girl with Braids

 

Have you ever seen a photo and you were intrigued by it to the point you wanted to draw it.  Well in this blog I will share with you the steps in how I made it.

I started off with the overall big shape.  Basically a contour or silhouette of the subject.

In this photo I blocked in the hair with vine charcoal.  Next I placed some horizontal lines to give suggestion as to where the brow eye nose mouth and chin will be.

Now in this photo all the porportions are determined and the features are all drawn out.  Now all that is left is adding value to the entire drawing.

I have added value to the drawing by shading what I laid down with vine charcoal.  Then afterwards I used a cotton swab to smudge in the value.

As you can see I have increase the value by adding layers of more charcoal but this time I used a number 2B compressed charcoal pencil.  The hair has more definition or detail through contrast in value that's been added to it.  The values are more darker. 

Now the drawing has reached the desired point in the process.  Everything or features have been darked and the hair has reached it's point in development.  I was very pleased with the out come.  

"Majesty" A visual for the viewer to be mindful that the Lord is Soveriegn over all His creation

 

The term majesty in the Webster dictionary means soveriegn power, authority or dignity. It also is used in addressing or referring to riegning soveriegn and their consorts.  Finally, used to describe the grandeur or  magnificence of a monoarchy however, in this case theocracy the King of the Kingdom of God.

This painting when I finished bringing in all the inspired references certaintly accomplished the desired results.  When I looked at it I thought about a title for the painting and majesty came to my mind.  The rest is history.

I was inspired to do this heavenly scene of the Lord seated on His throne.  It is for the viewer to reflect upon that we are dependant upon Him and not the other way around.  He is the exalted Lord who has all power and authority over all His creation. who will be returning to set up His Kingdom on earth.  Meanwhile, we should humble ourselves to allow Him to reign on the throne of our hearts. 

"which He will manifest in His own time.  He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of Lords who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power."  Amen 

(1 Timothy 6:15-16 NKJV)

He covers the face of His throne, and spreads His cloud over it.  

(Job 26:9 NKJV)

The Lord has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all. 

(Psalm 103:19 NKJV)

Dee's Drawing of Lupita

Last year in April of 2021 I took the liberty to draw and color in a profile of Actress Lupita Nyong'o.  She is Academy Award, Daytime Emmy Award, four NAACP Image Award, and two Screen Actors Guild Award winner. This drawing was done using vine charcoal and prismacolor pencil.

As you can see I completed the drawing by adding more details in.  Also I developed the colors more.  I accomplished this by using a technique in color pencil drawing called burnishing.  Burnishing is done when you go over the same area with another color or with a burnishing pencil or known as a colorless blender pencil design to make the colors less granny in appearance.  In this case I used a white color pencil over the color and I used a colorless blender.

I hope this blog post has been a blessing to you to read.  Please comment below if you have and comments or question or email me deeweaver15@gmail.com thank you.

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Beautiful Fall Colors Painted in Plein Air

                      Reference Bear Creek north Alabama  

             

"And then the sun took a step back, the leaves lulled themselves to sleep and Autumn was awaked." ~Raquel Franco

In November of 2020 on the week of Thanksgiving I took a trip to paint at Bear Creek in north Alabama.  I saw this scene while I was there and decided to paint it in plein air.  The scene had a rich variety of autumn colors reds orange browns and muted greens from the leaves of trees.  They were very appealling to the eye just rich in chroma or intensity.  I arrived there around 2:30 that afternoon.  The weather was clear sky and very chilly temperature in the 40s for highs.  The area was quiet and the winds were around 5mph from the east.  The water was still hardly no waves.  I said to my self this is very beautiful I need to come back and paint here.

 

This painting was done with 3 paint brushes a flat, round and liner brush.  I simplified the shape patterns in the landscape and mixed the colors to the chroma or intensity as close as possible.  It was a very chilly late afternoon in November.  I saw the scene and I said to myself I will have to come back and paint here again.
 

Drawing Basics and Drawing the Human Figure in Charcoal for Beginners

 

I remember as a young boy struggling drawing full figures.  I was very comfortable with drawing portraits and pretty much any thing else but when it came to figure drawing it was a struggle.  A few months ago around June of 2021 there was a public drawing session held by the University of North Alabama Art Department in which I attended and found out that their were artists struggling to draw particularly the human body.  I now have learned how to draw the human figure.  Later after that drawing session I went to a local artists guild meeting and a artist mentioned that they struggled with drawing the human figure.  

 I took it upon myself to create a video series in which I titled Drawing Basics and Drawing the Human Figure in Charcoal for Beginners.  In in this video I shared my experience in drawing when I was young.  In the video I go over the basic fundamentals of drawing.  I also share with the audience the concepts of gesture drawing and getting down what you see in a lose way.  I also go over the importance of purchasing a wood mannequin along with many other things I cover in the video on the drawing series.   https://youtu.be/j4fWMB8rIa8

Dee's Limited Palette for Plein Air

There has been a few times when I prepared to paint in plein air on to arrive on the scene and relized I for got a color I needed to paint.  Have you ever done that?  Also there would be just too much stuff to haul with me to paint.  

In this blog post I will discuss with you my limited palette that I use whenever I paint in plein air.  My colors went from twelve or more to six due to limiting the colors I bring with me.  It has been refreshing and a big comfort to limit the amount of colors I bring.  

By using a limited palette it allows me to develope a color harmony through out my mixing.  It is very cost effective to not just bring but buy just a few selective colors.  For example I may need a warm green that has a local color of yellow in it.  By using a limited color palette all I have to do is just take these three colors and mix them to get close or right at the color I need.  I would mix a phthalocyanine blue with a cadmium yellow medium mix the two with just a very small amount of blue to the yellow to get yellow green.  I also can disaturate the intensity by mixing the color's compliment or using any color with alter the saturation.  I could use white, gray or brown any of these colors will cause the color to lose it's intensity.  Those three colors are the most  common colors to disaturate the color intensity.

Before I place any color on to my stay wet palette I get my container of Liquitex slow dri gel which is a medium and mix it into my limited palette of color.

Here is my limited color palette.

The three colors at the top from left to right are titanium white, cadmium yellow medium and yellow orchre. 

Finally, the three colors at the bottom from left to right are as following: cadmium red medium, phthalocyanine blue and raw umber

The three colors at the top from left to right are titanium white, cadmium yellow medium and yellow orchre. 

Finally, the three colors at the bottom from left to right are as following: cadmium red medium, phthalocyanine blue and raw umber

MIXING COLOR TO GET BLACK

In order for me to get close to a black if I ever need it in my painting I would mix up the following color cadmium red medium, phthalocyanine blue and raw umber.

MIXING COLOR TO GET GREY

In order for me to get a grey I would just add titanium white with the three colors I just mentioned above

MIXING COLOR TO GET A COOL GREY OR A WARM GREY

f I need to get a cool grey, there would be a little bit more of blue.  If I need a warm gray then I would mix more brown in the color along with titanium white.

MIXING COLOR TO GET BROWN

If I need a brown I would mix all of the primary colors red yellow and blue.  Whenever your mx these three colors you get a brown.

MIXING COLOR TO GET ORANGE

If I need a orange I would mix cadmium yellow medium and cadmium red medium.

MIXING COLOR TO GET VIOLET OR PURPLE

If I need a violet or purple I would mix cadmium red medium and phthalocyanine blue equally.  In order to get a cool violet I would mix a little bit more of blue than red.   If I need a warmer violet then I would need a litte more red to mix. 

I hope you have learned the reasons in why I use a limited color palette.  Remember that to bring down a colors intensity or pureness it must be mixed with another color particullarly gray brown white or the color's compliment.  The color that is accross on the color wheel from it. 

If this content has been a value to you then please share it with others who need to read it.  Also for more art related content then comment below with your questions and response to this material. Thank you. Shalom