(reviewing old work) Painting 3: Gracie (surrealism)

Another Gracie painting! A birthday present for my sister. This was painted in oils (like all of my paintings) but on a board of MDF (a little bit larger than A2). With this piece I explored surrealism, I looked at the face as a smooth 3D object, rather than a face. It's not a style I usually do, (I prefer to get a close match to the original photo as possible) but I really enjoyed the experience and the finished product. Here is the original image:


parts of the painting I'm happy with:

Because the painting was so large, it gave me the opportunity to do all the fine detail. I LOVED to do the eyes in this painting because of all the contrast.. the light was hitting the eyes at an angle that made them so vibrant. If you look closely, you can see all the markings in the iris, and even the window reflected in Gracies eye! God I love painting eyes! I enjoyed painting the subtle eyebrows and eyelashes too.



I really liked painting the lips in this painting (which is unusual for me). Creating depth by painting the shine and shadow was a lot of fun, and I'm extremely pleased with the results!