The 3rd portrait

Project 1 evaluation

Thankfully I finished three portraits in less than fours weeks, since I can not paint oil at home. I thought it was not difficult to paint but to prepare what to paint. I spent most of my time thinking about the expressions, emotions, style and colours, I found myself quite struggling when making decisions.  I was used to paint with water colour, oil is much thicker so it does not really flow.  Also this is my first time using oil to paint portraits, I was quite careful when I was painting, so I thought  it came out a bit too controlled.

I did not like my first portrait, I thought the colours was too bright, and I want it to be thin and airy therefore I did not paint it over and over again to correct the colours. Also the proportions were not very correct, especially the neck looked weird. It is quite hard to get everything right, without a reference as I am working from my imagination, so I took some photos of my classmates and intended a life drawing class as a study of proportions. I found the life drawing class was very helpful, it was much accurate than observe  correct proportions from photos or books.

I thought my second portrait was much better than the first one, it looked much softer and blend in. To get that kind of soft, airy looking rather than paint the colours on I actually swept them on, so it does not get thick and does not leave strong brush strokes. And I use a lot of white to make the background colour down, so it was not very contrast to the portrait itself. But one thing I did not like my second portrait is that it looked a bit flat as it was smooth and soft, and it looked like I was being overly timid or careful. As a result, I deliberately left some brush strokes on my third portrait, and it is got the most satisfactory colours than the other two which was dull , low key and can be a bit creepy.

In conclusion, I found it was not easy to mix that kind of dull colours, but in an over view I like my third portrait the best. But I did  not like that I seemed over careful while I was working on the painting, so separate from what I do for my project, I am also thinking to do some loose drawings just to practice to draw freely.