Here’s the progress I made on my guy yesterday. He’s not my guy, he’s my friends son, I could be his mother.
I think I mentioned in my last post about him when he was just a line drawing that I was nervous for this portrait. I’m not nervous about painting girls and boys, but guys/men are new territory. I was afraid he would look girly. But after this first hit I don’t think he looks feminine, so I’m feeling less nervous. I think I held my breath for several hours yesterday while working on him. One of these day I will just pass out while painting. Whatever you have heard, painting is not relaxing, not at all, not for me. I painted his face and got to the whiskers on his chin/jaw and stopped, but they sorta look like they are there with the blue underpainting showing. Today I will paint his sweatshirt and the background. Then in a few days I will go in for more color and another layer to his skin and focus in on each feature one at a time. He has lovely ice blue/green eyes that are just about there. The pencil lines you see help me tremendously, but I have painted portraits without them.
Jill Millward Artwork 