Sketch of Breagha

11/16: Sketch of Breagha, oil on linen panel, 5x3 in.

I took my palette into the poorly lit (even in the afternoon) living room and hoped for something at least halfway, while my daughter was sitting still and eating her lunch. A spur of the moment thing, and I was using mainly color blobs still on the palette from the previous night. This was probably about 20 minutes and, though I did some cleaning up later, I left most things alone like the light on her head that I know is off - the light, that is, not her head. I think I got the "feel" of the profile with her bulbous forehead (though it could even be bigger than this). She has quite a resemblance to the Curious George cartoon, actually, also she's very much like a tiny cub of some sort. She turned 19 months the other day.

Work in progress: Leslie

9/18: Leslie, oil on canvas, 16x20 in.

This year and last I found the motivation to at least start a few paintings of family members from digital photos. This is my sister-in-law Leslie and the reference photos I'm using were taken two(?) Christmases (or Thanksgivings?) ago. When I set the painting aside I had done just enough to grid and layout the image, and begin to mass in some local color and model the shirt sleeve. I'd been meaning to go back to this for a while, and decided last night to spend a couple hours and lighten the skin tones, adjust the color of the background stripes, and basically try to unify the colors overall with the colors on my palette currently. Also I painted over part of a table that was on the right. (The painting wasn't lit properly for this photo, so the upper corners are very bright.)

Breagha sleeping

Breagha sleeping, silverpoint on wood, approx. 5.25x4 in.

I didn't paint anything in observance of Labor Day (Sunday, actually). This drawing was from last year when my daughter was about two weeks old, one of the very few times I drew anything all year. She looks here like a little bug, as we used to call her. I always liked silverpoint though I hadn't done much since being exposed to it in school.