Little girl in white oil painting

This 16 x 20 oil was quite a challenge! Photographers all deal with photoshop and a large number of artists do as well now. Sometimes I think that a little more sketching would bring the brain back as "photoshop" is something an artist always did....long before the computer! This little girl came from 2 photos. I created a pastel of her sister 6 years ago and they had an "oil photograph" made. So I had a photo of the little blond headed sister-full body and a head and shoulder photo of the other dark haired sister...basically combining them together and then deciding to add the arm to the right as the original photo showed (vaguely, in parts) her little arms pulled up to her body. But after painting that, it looked awkward, so I rubbed out the arm (with a crowd watching) and sketched it back onto the canvas and then painted it. Fun with a crowd around! Anyway the client was THRILLED with the results.
The very cool thing is that the dress in the oil was detailed (more so than the photograph) and it had been made by the grandmother. Both little girls wore it for their portraits (6 years apart!) Grandma's Dress is an heirloom as is now this portrait!

a PENCIL a DAY! (in public)

Yep..all you need (I am constantly telling parents and artists) to improve your ability to see and draw is a #2 pencil and a pad of drawing paper!

I tell budding artists that they should ALWAYS be carrying those two art supplies around....and there are several good reasons why!

1. A small 5 x 7 sketch book is handy and portable. When out with friends or with parents, sketch something...anything...a salt shaker, a leaf, a dog, a friend, a fork...the point is small sketches teach hand and eye coordination. There is NO substitute like the real thing. The ability to see perspective can take an artist further in an art career than anything else. Even a career in computer art is enhanced by knowing the basics...why? Because Photographs are often distorted!

2. The next benefit of carrying these two art items around is that YOU are "Working in public." Do you really think that the average person is going to come up to you or a child and look at a sketch and say"That's awful!"? No. The perks are increased confidence, increased ego and of course, increased skills!

3. Parents of kids take note! Let your kids SELL their artwork! $1.00 or 2.00 or even $10.00 or $15.00. The point is, they must learn to VALUE their abilities EVEN if a sketch took 15 seconds! Got it? NO freebies to classmates, neighbors, etc....well maybe Grandma but no matter your age, do NOT value it by how little time it took!

Get a sketchbook, sketch simple items daily for 2 weeks, date each sketch, and resketch a couple of your earlier ones 2 weeks later. You WILL see an improvement in speed and perspective...and by this time your nervousness at sketching in public (the mall, a restaurant, recess, on the bus, car, etc.) will also be fading!