Gary

I did this portrait of my neighbor as a gift to him for helping me put together my model stand. I told him since he was nice enough to take the time to help me that he would be my first model to jump up on it and get painted. I managed to get him to sit for me for about 2-1/2 hours including breaks. I didn't really think I could ask him to sit for much longer, but that was long enough to get some good color down and capture a decent likeness. I finished it off from some photos I took, putting in probably another 3-4 hours, and will be presenting it to him once it dries. 
Here's hoping he likes it.

Am I happy with this painting? I think, mostly yes. It is interesting though. Knowing that this was something that I was doing for someone specifically it created a bit of internal pressure. I tended to "tighten up" when my desire is to paint looser, with a bit more of a bravura technique. I think in most of my Friday paintings I manage to keep the loose thing going. But those would probably fall into the category of practice, intended for no particular person. I think that's why my ultimate, or dream goal is not to paint commissioned portraits (although I probably wouldn't turn too many down), but rather I envision doing paintings that have greater meaning for me that happen to include people as subjects. A lot of painters come to mind. Just go down my list of painters I like on my sidebar and you'll know what I mean.

Gary

Oil on Canvas Panel - 12 x 16

Loren

I'm taking a workshop over four Wednesday evenings with local painter, Judy Pendergast Takacs. The theme of the workshop is to paint a local celebrity artist. Judy likes to paint people, like I do, and so I thought it would be a good opportunity, not just to learn from someone who's been at it a while, but also just to get to know someone local who has similar interests. It's so interesting to see another person's approach. Judy has a lot of skill and has a lot of good knowledge to share. She has a good way of getting to and interpreting  the character of the subject, if you know what I mean.

I'm really enjoying the workshop. Really, any chance I get to paint with new people and learn new things is a treat, so I'm like a kid in a candy store.

Anyway, our first local celebrity artist was Loren Naji, a multi-faceted artist and gallery owner. He has some great features and a great expression and was a lot of fun to paint. I hope I did him justice. I'll probably work on it some more but I thought I'd go ahead and post it anyway since it's been a while.

Oil on Canvas - 20 x 24