Five Portraits

If you read my last post, you saw I have a new format when I talk about my painting:

          1. What did I paint?

          2. Why did I paint it?

          3. Did I achieve what I intended?

Since I haven't posted a painting in two months, I have some catching up to do. 

What did I paint? 

Audrey, Marilyn, and Elvis are all 24 x 24-inch acrylics on canvas. The Frank Sinatra is also a 24 x 24-inch on canvas, but his face is done in oil while his hat, suit and the background are done in acrylic. It's hard to do the subtle shifts in color in acrylic because they dry so fast, like in a minute or two. I think I was just tired of trying to get things right and opted to go with oils which can be worked for days rather than minutes. So that's what I painted.  

Why did I paint these? I had done several other small, 14 x 11 portraits in oil (The Picasso portrait is larger):

I thought it was time to do something larger. In considering who to paint, I did think in terms of recognizable people, celebrities. I also considered who is most likely to sell. Selling is kind of important as I don't have room at home to hang 100+ paintings. I need to sell these things. 

As far as achieving what I intended, I feel good about these. I definitely saw an improvement in my work as I moved from Marilyn to Frank. These were a struggle, but I feel I learned as I went along. For example, I thought their hair would be the most difficulty thing, but I think I did some great hair particularly on the Elvis. 

Keep working!