Painting Portraits

Hi lovelies!

I was de-cluttering my studio when I came across two unused canvas panels. Quite spontaneously I popped them onto my work surface and decided to paint portraits. Now, if you follow me on my socials you'll know that I like to paint, draw, sketch in whatever style I currently fancy! While many others go on a quest to find their signature style (and there's nothing wrong with that), I have made peace with the fact that I paint where my mood takes me. One of my favorite quotes by Edward Hopper describes this perfectly:

" If you could say it in words, there would be no reason to paint. "

40 x 50 cm

In the above painting I leaned into Pop Art, a style originating in the mid 50s that communicates through bright and sometimes cartoon-like imagery. I wanted something fun and unusual. This stylized portrait is done with acrylic paint as well as paint pens. I did not work from a reference, I simply painted what came into my mind. As of yet this portrait remains untitled - suggestions welcome!

"Silvia" 40 x 50 cm

The second example is an expressive acrylic painting touching on realism. Looking at it on my screen I can immediately see where adjustments should have been made, and I will keep this in mind for my next portrait. The above painting took me several days to complete. I have been a creative person my entire life, but please keep in mind that I have no formal training as an artist :) 

The question I naturally get asked the most is who the person is in the portrait. The simple answer is: I don't know! I rarely work from a reference photo and I guess my approach to these types of paintings is unconventional (you should have seen the underpainting!). But once I push back the layers with lots of white I kind of "see" a face emerging in my mind's eye. And while I'm painting, the features also transform. I originally meant to paint long, dark brown hair, but as I was painting the eyes, I realized this lady needed a shorter length hairstyle in a light brown color. It's quite possible, that there is someone somewhere that looks similar to my portrait - if so, it is entirely coincidental. I titled this painting Silvia, as I felt the name suited her. What do you think?

And lastly, I leave you with an abstract expressive portrait that was part of an exercise that I took part in right at the beginning of my art journey five years ago. As I recall, I was supposed to lay down shadow areas with a big brush, then add in highlights and finally details with a black watercolor pencil. All while using a minimal color palette. I enjoyed this experiment!

Thank you for reading along and have a wonderful weekend!