WATERCOLOUR PORTRAITS - at the ARTBARN

 

I'm teaching a Watercolour Portraits Class starting in October at the awesome Artbarn at 250 Eglinton West, just past Yonge street. Super excited about it! It'll be 8 Wednesday evenings. Join me! We'll go over all the features and complete up to 4 portraits in watercolour. WooHoo.

SOLD OUT

Latest Portraits!

(see the cat?!)

These are the latest oil sketches I've done... all on Zoom with my awesome Portrait Pals. : ) I call them sketches because the poses are short and the panels are about 7x9". Sometimes I touch them up but often, I leave them alone. They are what they are! : )

Halloween Fun!

 

Another great Zoom Portrait Sessions. WooHoo! I think the whole group of artists, who pose for each other for 20 minutes, are all getting really good. This weekly practise is really paying off. Everyone has improved!! And today, being Halloween, the costumes made things super fun. Happy Halloween Y'all!!

Pet Portraits - Watercolour

 
Pet Portrait in Watercolour by Nora MacPhail nora904@yahoo.com 

Hi! Simply email me, say "Hi" and let's chat about your project. Send along a few photos of your pet and I'll get painting! Original Art is a great gift for a friend, or for yourself. ; )

The finished painting will be a 5x7" original watercolour painting on 140lb artist quality paper. The painting is then adhered to a painted cradled panel.

$150Cad - Shipping Included.

2 Weeks turnaround time. 

Small packets take approximately 7-10 days for shipping.

PayPal, e-transfer or personal check.  Toronto Curbside PU.

EMAIL ME BEFORE PAYING - nora904@yahoo.com 

$150.00 CAD

(PayPal will convert to your currency, if needed)

 

the artist's apron

 

click here to buy - 

$120 - 8x5 1/4" original oil on board

This two-colour-palette portrait was painted with a warm red and a cool blue, and white of course. I love the limited palette because, not only does it create consistent greys, but it forces me to really find colour variations in just two colours.

Regal Portrait

 

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$150 - 6x6" original oil painting on 1/8"board

Well, I continued with the same model and I'm sure happy that I did. All the lovely oranges in his skin tones created a nice balance with his dark hair and jacket. I love the earrings and the little anchors on his costume collar. And for the hightights, I just went for it with bright blues and pinks. Check out the previous post for this one's 'pair'.

Regal Profile

 

SOLD

$150 - 6x6" original oil painting on 1/8"board

Painting this model's portrait was a very zen experience for me. It was early on a Sunday morning and as I painted, I listened to a fellow artist with not only a British accent, but also a buttery voice. It was just wonderful. I kinda zoned out while I relied on all of my past painting experience to get it right. Very happy with this one (and it's pair posted next!)

looking up

 

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$80 - original oil painting on 1/8" canvas panel

Today I drew the model (from a zoom session, super fun) with cerulean blue. Then I mixed up some lime green and some purple and just used those two colours, plus white of course. It turned out to be a challenging but very modern palette. It took me a while to warm up to it but now, I love the way it looks.

Dottie

 

click here to buy - 

$160 - 8x10" original oil painting on panel

Another Two-Colour Palette! For this wonderful model, (thanks RawUmberStudios for the YouTube paintalongs), I chose Pyrrole Red and Cerulean Blue. I love dark blue with red. The Pyrrole is a Cobra oil brand and it's basically a warm Cadmium Red. Here are some palette pics.

 

When I saw the wonderful red scarf on her head, I knew I just had to paint her. And glasses to match! Such a great expression too.

Thanks for checkin' out my blog. Cheers and Be Well. ; )

dynamic duo

 

click here to purchase - 

$90 - 5x7" original oil painting on 1/8" panel

I love the glow of light behind these adorable Kingfishers, it shows off their distinctive crowns. The bigger one is peeking around the smaller one. #socute

Details - 

in thought

9x12" oil painting on the back of a sketchbook cover. ; )

Today's Two-Colour Portrait was done with Light Magenta and Burnt Umber. I chose a warm and cool colour, thinking the pink was the warm, (since it's in the red category) only to quickly realize the brown is the warmer of the two. #doh I mean, burnt umber is orange right...?! 

I gessoed the board with a white and black gesso mix in order to see my values. 

Next is another picture of the whole piece, (on a black background so you can see it) I love the perforations and I let the orange and yellow, from the original board, show up. (I sanded the gesso off the edges to bring that colour back). I added a little brush mark of my original palette, the two-colours... and white of course, to the bottom right hand corner. ; )

Here's my preliminary sketch in charcoal, also 9x12".

  

And here's my palette. I don't usually mix colours first, but for these two-colour portraits I do, so that I can really get a handle on the three values I'm using.

I take a black and white pic of my palette, before I start painting, to see if the values are right. See how the light values match each other, and the mid values match each other, as well as the grey paper palette I use. 

By the end of it, my three value painting is really five values. I bring in a few mid-lights and mid-darks. I try to keep it to three, since three value paintings are nice and clean, and easy to 'read' from across the room. But sometimes, for portrait structure, a few more values are necessary.

Thank you for stopping by! I appreciate your time. Take care ya'll. : )

the sky is the limit

click here to bid in auction or buy now - 

$90 - 5x7" original oil painting on 1/8" panel.

I loved painting these big pink glasses! And her expression is so cute. Thanks again to the awesome sktchy app for providing photos for all of us artist to paint from. Especially during these difficult times when portrait sessions are on hold.

: )

portrait in blue

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6x6" oil painting on1"deep panel

I'm thrilled with the outcome of this portrait in blue. Thanks again to the awesome Sktchy site where people upload photos of themselves to be painted. Cheers Alanna Jewel!