This was done for a portrait challenge at wetcanvas, the original was done by-

William Merritt Chase (1849-1916)
My Daughter Alice
Oil on canvas, 1898-1899

I painted this one on a bit of 8×6 canvas, I always have trouble with the facial features when painting small, so it was good practice.

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After getting room to paint at home I decided to try Plein air, I have wanted to paint outdoors since last summer but didn’t have the guts too ; )

I mean what if the painting looks totally rediculous and there are people stopping to look, I would feel so stupid ; ) Well I just went for it and loved it, I didn’t care what people thought, just what I thought. My biggest mistake was taking a set of  Georgion oils that I got when I first started painting, I thought they were crap then and never used them. There were Cad red and yellow hues and I just couldn’t mix the colours I wanted from them and resorted to used the tube green.  Next time I ‘ll take good paint with me. It didn’t turn out too good but it broke the ice and gave the confidence to paint in public. Sorry for the bad photo but it took the bad look of the painting, my next one can only get better ;  )

I’ve been neglecting this blog lately, I’ve been building a painting studio in the back of my garage as I haven’t really had anywhere to paint. I got it half built and started painting in it ; ) This is the first one I’ve painted in months, I think her torso is too long or her butt is to low but I don’t mind it was fun to do. I did the girl one night and painted the grass in the next night.

A friend asked if I did landscapes, I told him I’d tried one (Donegal Hills) but never had serious attempt. I offered to paint one for him if he found something he liked. He found this beautiful picture of a Cherry Blossom, I need to have a feeling for something before I paint and it just called out to me. I decided to take pictures as I progressed (I took a photo everytime I poured a drink lol) here is a photo after the initial block-in

There then followed about 10 photos like the one below

Ok drinking and photography don’t mix, I sometimes wonder how I manage to paint ; )
Somehow it came out quite good though and after my lesson of not painting the life out of things I decided to call it finished. I would love to have worked on the the tree more and a few other parts too so I gave it to him while the paint was still wet.
Here it is as I signed and put my brushes away ; )

Another late night with too much too drink, I just started painting without a finished picture in my mind, well this is what it evolved too lol. There are parts I am happy with but the lack of planning clearly shows lol.

Still working on this one, it has gone downhill. I think this one is a turning point for me in regards to knowing when to stop lol.
This is part of the portrait swap at the WetCanvas site, all participants are paired of and exchange photos. I was really buzzing with this painting, it was easily my best so far until I keep improving little bits and lost the freshness. Now I’m debating starting a new version. It has taught me a hard lesson, one I will not foget too easily, stop before you paint the life out it ; )

This a part study of one his paintings, Again I never finished, it just became too overpainted looking. I think knowing when to stop is the hardest part of painting to learn, but I ‘m learning the hard way ; )

Another early one, just experimenting ; )

This is another copy of one of my digital images. As usual I painted the life out of it ; ) It did end up looking better than the one shown here but I never took anymore photos as I was so disappointed with it. One of my nighbours saw it and loved it, so I gave it to her.

This is a study of Francesco Hayez’s The Kiss

I messed up on the persective of the steps and the figures look a bit cut and pasted but it was fun to do ; )