Happy 2025!

Here are some paintings I started over Christmas week of my four kids. i hadn’t painted them in a while, and Im trying to get a round of them out at least evert couple years to document their progress. Even though it is not easy, they are def my favorite things to paint. It’s a fun challenge because i know their little faces so well.

Two of them are 18×18 inches, and two 12×12 inches, oil on gessoed panel. started these all the same way with a contour pencil sketch focusing on proportions. I used a grid primarily to make sure they were centered/sized correctly. i’ve gotten sort of picky about how large I like to paint portraits. like 2/3 to just under life size is preferable for some reason.

 

from there I laid down a base layer to establish general values and local colors. I try to get a decent amount of paint down at this stage.

Once dried,I went in with some selective glazes to pump the shadows more, some full layer glazes over the whole picture to harmonize a little bit. After a few glazes, I hit each one with a light sanding with some 600 grit sandpaper. This helps remove a lot of the dust and hair particles that may have landed on it, and makes additional layers go down a lot smoother.

I will then lay down a thin layer of a glazing mixture mixed out of 6 parts galkyd, 4 parts terpenoid, and like 1 part refined linseed oil. Once this is down I will work thinly, building up highlights, carefully mixing and refining middle tones and shadow shapes…

Aaaaand thats where I’m currently at! there’s no real formula from here on out, aside from spending time fixing and refining things for a few more sittings.  Not sure if I’m gonna do anything drastic or keep them fairly straight representations. Guess we’ll see how these next sittings go!