Flowers for Celina (Portrait as of April 14, 2024)

Here is my portrait of Celina as it looked on April 14, 2024.  That day I worked on the figure, revising the position of legs and feet.  I also touched up the face a bit. To be continued. . . .

Reposting: Matza Flowers (Flourless)

I originally posted this on April 9, 2009.  I made the design using Painter's pattern pen, using a matzah pattern I had created the night before.  In addition to the matzahs around the edges, every brush stroke of the flowers is made from the matzah pattern. Sending this out to say "Happy Passover" to those celebrating, and wishing everyone peace and freedom.

Flowers for Celina (Portrait as of April 10, 2024)

Here is my portrait of Celina as it looked on April 10, 2024.  I made a few small changes to the face, but spent most of my time working on the flowers, trying to fill out the foliage a bit.  And as I painted, I was thinking about Celina and realized that I am painting  flowers of gratitude.

Flowers for Celina (Portrait as of April 9, 2024)

Here is my portrait of Celina as it looked on April 9th.  I made a few changes to the figure (mostly at the shoulders).  I also continued to work on the background, figuring out placement of the rows of plants and the placement of the blossoms. To be continued. . . .

Flowers for Celina (Portrait as of April 5, 2024)

Here is my portrait of Celina as it looked on April 5, 2024.  I didn't do too much to the face that day, but I did modify the figure.  I realized that the legs were a bit too long (Celina was very petite) so I shortened them and repainted the feet.  I also worked on the background.  I continued to build the structure for all those rosebushes, sketching in branches so I can tell where they should go.  Later I will fill in with foliage.  To be continued. . . .

Flowers for Celina (Portrait as of April 4, 2024)

Here is my portrait of Celina as it looked on April 4th.  I made some small changes to the figure and the face, beginning to add a little color.  I continued work on the background. I used some basic lines and shapes to sketch out branches and leaves.  This is not the way the background will look when I am done. But at this point, I am using very simple lines and shapes just to establish placement of all  those rose bushes. To be continued. . . 

Flowers for Celina (Portrait as of April 2, 2024)

Here is my portrait of Celina as it looked on April 2, 2024.  I was still struggling to see detail in my reference photo.  Sometimes I use my Painter program to help with this by putting a filter over the reference photo to emphasize shapes, highlights, shadows, etc.  I was planning to do that with this portriat, but suddenly had a better idea: I used the Prisma app* on my phone to do the same thing.  I chose a black-and-white filter with delicate lines and the result made it much easier to see details like the shadows on the dark blouse. As a bonus, the filter made it easier to check the shape and placement of the facial features. So with the aide of my reference photo (with new filter), I was able to revise the shadows on the blouse.  The result was encouraging so I began to add color.  I also made some changes to the face that brought the portrait closer to a likeness.  Not there yet, but much closer.  To be continued. . . .

*I often use Prisma filters to add interest to a photographic image.  This was the first time I used it as an aid to painting. Why didn't I think of that sooner?