I usually avoid personal subject matter on this blog due to my private nature, but today I will make a slight exception. This was my last in-class oil demo of the year at RIT. I did it about two months ago and it is a portrait of my dad as a young man. The painting is 12"x 16"and was completed on one of my homemade canvas panels. I worked wet into wet and used a limited palette of Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, Yellow Ochre, Paynes Gray, Naples Yellow, Permanent Rose, Black, and White. The portrait was based on an old B & W photograph from the late 1940's.
The photo was tiny, so I scanned it with my Epson 4490 Photo scanner and printed out an 8 x 10 reference photo (still B&W, of course). My dad has been gone for almost 26 years now and it felt good to create this portrait. He was a real gentleman with a great, Irish sense of humor. He was smart, kind, and caring. A great guy and great father. His positive influence stays with me to this day.
