Face #14

11X14" acrylic on bristol

I haven't done too much with painting mediums yet, so I decided to get out the acrylics next. A friend gave me a picture of her granddaughter when she heard about the project, and I thought it would be good for painting. I did some preliminary drawing to make sure I got the proportions correct--the slight tilt of the head gave me a little trouble at first. I wasn't planning on finishing this in one day, but I did. I didn't enjoy working with the acrylics as much as I thought I would. Although there are a few things about the painting that bother me, I like the overall result. I'm looking forward to painting with oils in the near future.

Face #13

8.5X11" colored pencil on vellum

Some people consider 13 an unlucky number. The only "unlucky" thing about this face was that it took me a long time to complete. I've been having fun with colored pencil, but I decided to try it on vellum, rather than the sketchbook kind of paper. I really liked the result--I was able to spend more time on the details and less time laying down the basic colors. I think the resulting picture was worth the time that I put into it.

Face #12

8X10" oil pastel on monoprint

This face was originally done as a monoprint, but I felt that it was too indistinct. I decided to bring out the face using oil pastels over the print. The effect turned out quite muddy--I'm not sure if that is a result of too much oil pastel or the monoprint showing through the pastel. At any rate, I don't like it. I decided to publish it anyway, though, because it does represent the spirit of the project--it's a learning experience.

Face #11

18X24" pastel on fashion paper

This face was based on a sketch that I made while waiting at the airport. What initially attracted me was the roundness of the features. I was not able to get a whole lot of detail in the sketch, since the person moved shortly after I began to draw, so a lot of the lighting and other details had to be supplied from imagination. When I began the pastel, I was in a weird mood and decided to paint the face in blues rather than in realistic colors. I'm pretty happy with how it all turned out.