From time to time, I will bring you up to date with my current projects and provide insight into my process. I always have 2-3 paintings going on at any given time; some for commission, some as demos for teaching, and some for the purposes of experimentation and my own expression.
May 23, 2022
Before breaking for a mini-vacation, I worked on my portrait of the young Kathak dancer. I was pleased with the likeness, so I can move on to refine other areas of the portrait now. More important, my subject is happy with the likeness— she left my studio last week with a big smile on her face, saying, "That is sooooo cool!” This photo-detail of the face was taken with my phone, so there is some external light reflecting off the texture of the canvas.
I have become obsessed with surface quality, so next time, I plan to paint on Di-bond, which is an industrial material made by 3M. This substrate is gaining popularity among realist artists but it has to be gessoed and sanded to accept the pigment. On a small scale, I experimented with Ampersand's Gessobord for a workshop on painting Renaissance Women in oil. Like Di-bond, it has the quality of panel painting. Painting on it without prep however, I learned that the surface is too slick and the oil paint streaked in the early layers. Here is progress on the 8" x 10" portrait-demo for this workshop. It took three layers to get the paint not to streak. The session ends tomorrow and there's still so much work to be done on it!
To commission a portrait, go to www.deniselaurinvisualart.com
For sessions and workshops, go to: www.livingcreatively.info