Jared’s Portrait

My son Jared is here from Macon, Georgia to visit for the holidays. He has his MFA in art and teaches at Bloomfield Middle School. We enjoy painting together, so there are two easels being used in my studio right now.

He asked if I’d do his portrait this afternoon. He handed me an 11″ x 14″ canvas. I had him sit on the couch for about forty-five minutes while I painted.

When I do a portrait I make a basic oblong shape for the head, draw a line across the middle where the eyes go, go halfway between the eyes and the chin and draw a line where the bottom of the nose goes, then the last line goes halfway between the bottom of the nose and the chin. This is where the bottom of the lip goes. I draw in the shapes of the darkest values, the middle values, and the light values. I mix a dark, medium and light value, usually using alizarin crimson, yellow ochre, and white. Then I paint in the shapes according to their shades. After that, I play a little with other colors if I need them.

Comments on Jared’s Portrait

December 23, 2008

Marguerite @ 4:30 pm #

Jan Labard sent me a christmas card, which introduced me to your site. Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful. Simple sites become extrordinar. And you make it look So simple! Thank you for this encounter. You have enriched my life. Marguerite

December 25, 2008

Christine @ 9:54 am #

I really like this portrait of my cute big brother.

December 29, 2008

Lauri Slack @ 1:14 pm #

Man, I’ve got a cool uncle! Grandma told me about this video, and it was so fun to watch!