Duchess Portrait - Watch it Come to Life
October 10th 2018 through November 14th 2018
Watch this 24 in by 48 in Duchess Portrait come to life, photo by photo, section by section. The process begins with using a projector to sketch the photo onto the canvas (a HUGE time saver when dealing with such large-scale precision work). Then, due to the background being silver leaf, I went ahead and applied that. It is much easier to paint over the areas where the silver leaf goes over the line than it is to try and remove the leaf from the painted areas later on. Now, how I tackle each Duchess Portrait varies with the layout and complexity of each train and dress. However, with this portrait, I tackled the green background first. It was a large area that was covered in lettering and stones, yet it was simple work that didn't require a lot of zooming in on photos. Knocking that out first was fast and a great way to get a running start on a marathon of a project! Next, I tackled the middle bar and snake. It was the same logic - a large area of painting that could be done in a faster, more uniform kind of way. Even though there was much more detail work on this middle area than the background, just being able to focus on one "object" and knock it out as a whole over a few days really got me excited to start on the more difficult flower clusters! This is where the time consuming portion came into play - with the clusters, I was switching back and forth between colors, applying multiple base layers, carefully outlining and shading each shape, and then zooming in on each object for the placement of the layers upon layers of detail and glitter dots. The flower clusters alone took 2 out of the 4 weeks to complete. Next was the upper body - skin tone has always been my weakest area, so I allow myself plenty of time to apply layer upon layer of shading and hues until I get the color exactly how I want it. I also have to give my eyes (and arm) a rest; so I leave the painting alone for a day or two so I can come back to it with fresh eyes. When you are working so intensely on such a small area of a large painting, sometimes you can get so wrapped up in what you've been doing that you fail to notice things still not perfected. However, once that area was done, (and had the final stamp of approval from the client, cause I mean, who knows your face better than you?), I did the dress and the crown! And BOOM, done! It took 4 and a half weeks, but before I knew it, I was spreading on that protective polymer gloss and taking it to the photographers!
Now that you know how it all came together, I hope you enjoy watching it for yourself in the video below!
*Note: while the photos and videos NEVER do these glittering beauties any justice, the Live Video sections at the end were done with different lighting so that you could see how the combination of materials were able to transform the colors and textures of the painting and make it come to life!
Watch this 24 in by 48 in Duchess Portrait come to life, photo by photo, section by section. The process begins with using a projector to sketch the photo onto the canvas (a HUGE time saver when dealing with such large-scale precision work). Then, due to the background being silver leaf, I went ahead and applied that. It is much easier to paint over the areas where the silver leaf goes over the line than it is to try and remove the leaf from the painted areas later on. Now, how I tackle each Duchess Portrait varies with the layout and complexity of each train and dress. However, with this portrait, I tackled the green background first. It was a large area that was covered in lettering and stones, yet it was simple work that didn't require a lot of zooming in on photos. Knocking that out first was fast and a great way to get a running start on a marathon of a project! Next, I tackled the middle bar and snake. It was the same logic - a large area of painting that could be done in a faster, more uniform kind of way. Even though there was much more detail work on this middle area than the background, just being able to focus on one "object" and knock it out as a whole over a few days really got me excited to start on the more difficult flower clusters! This is where the time consuming portion came into play - with the clusters, I was switching back and forth between colors, applying multiple base layers, carefully outlining and shading each shape, and then zooming in on each object for the placement of the layers upon layers of detail and glitter dots. The flower clusters alone took 2 out of the 4 weeks to complete. Next was the upper body - skin tone has always been my weakest area, so I allow myself plenty of time to apply layer upon layer of shading and hues until I get the color exactly how I want it. I also have to give my eyes (and arm) a rest; so I leave the painting alone for a day or two so I can come back to it with fresh eyes. When you are working so intensely on such a small area of a large painting, sometimes you can get so wrapped up in what you've been doing that you fail to notice things still not perfected. However, once that area was done, (and had the final stamp of approval from the client, cause I mean, who knows your face better than you?), I did the dress and the crown! And BOOM, done! It took 4 and a half weeks, but before I knew it, I was spreading on that protective polymer gloss and taking it to the photographers!
Now that you know how it all came together, I hope you enjoy watching it for yourself in the video below!
*Note: while the photos and videos NEVER do these glittering beauties any justice, the Live Video sections at the end were done with different lighting so that you could see how the combination of materials were able to transform the colors and textures of the painting and make it come to life!
Crown Portrait - Watch it come to life
October 15th, 2018
This 36 in by 36 in large scale Crown Portrait took a little over three months to complete (mid June to end of September). This video, which is a compilation of all the progress photos, shows how this magnificent painting came to life!
This 36 in by 36 in large scale Crown Portrait took a little over three months to complete (mid June to end of September). This video, which is a compilation of all the progress photos, shows how this magnificent painting came to life!
