Painting again!

I finally have started painting again! I haven't found (or more accurately: made) the time to do any serious oil painting since I finished classes this past Spring.  But then we had an all-day blizzard about a week and a half ago!  My work was cancelled and so I had an entire day stuck at home with nothing to do.  The conditions were perfect for finally motivating myself to break out the paints. It was a little hard starting up again after such a hiatus, but it was really enjoyable.  I decided to stick with what I'd last been practicing: portraits!  I even took some progress shots of the second, smaller portrait I did (a pseudo self-portrait) so you can see my process.  In addition to the paintings I also have done a few sketches and some more Sketchbook Pro digital coloring.  Enjoy!

There's nothing quite like painting while watching your favorite movie during a blizzard.

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out (especially for my first one after so long)!

 Here are the progress photos showing my process for the second painting (the final picture is the finished product):

 Sketching on colored background

Laying in a flat skin tone, refining outlines, and starting to define general cool light/color shapes

Adding warm light/color to the other side of the face, starting to block in the big shadow shapes in the hair

Smoothing shapes in the face, painting in the hair and collar, refining detail in the eyes, and adding some background color

                                                     

Here are some recent drawings from my sketchbook!

A teen I saw while working at the library

A quick doodle of a woman I saw at the store where I work (there are definite benefits to working in places with a wide variety of customers/patrons)

A little idea sketch for a project I'm working on

This is the colored version of that Classical Indian/Ancient Egyptian dress I posted about last time.

New Website!

Once again I have neglected my art blog (and my drawing in general). It's an eternal struggle.  But I do have good news-- I was using a lot of the time when I wasn't drawing/posting art to create a website! Hooray!  It's such a nice feeling to have a professional-looking place to showcase my best pieces again.  Please check it out! 

natashamickelson.wordpress.com

One of the reasons I was anxious to get my website up and running is so that I have a place to put my figure drawings.  So as not so alienate any potential readership, I will no longer be uploading my nude figure drawings to this blog.  However, I will still continue to attend the weekly figure drawing sessions and do a lot of drawings through that, so keeping checking my website every so often to see which future pieces I feel most proud of!

And here are some sketches (sorry there aren't more), and one figure drawing (don't worry-- it doesn't show any sensibility-offenders). Enjoy!

There are so many awesome people to draw in the city!

This outfit is based on a dream I had that combined a Classical Indian dance costume with something ancient Egyptian.

I'm very proud of how this turned out. Yay light and shadow!