Let's Hear it for the Boys

Painters love to paint and every week I am thrilled just to have a model to paint. Our models are all ages, shapes and sizes -which we love; however, most of our models are ladies. In the last few weeks we have had the luck of being able to paint young men, a change and challenge that we all enjoyed.

 One of our college-age female models brought her friend Colin to a studio session. Young and handsome, costumed in a renaissance shirt, he was straight out of an Austen novel, I loved it. We painted outside that day and I used a small canvas to capture his image (unfinished). I was happy with the results which I felt captured his features (I am really focusing on  feature likenesses lately). I hope that we book him for another session.

For Colin the sun was up and to the viewer's right. I need more contrast in the light and shadow, so will have to lighten the sunny side. Also Colin's eyes are narrowed because the sun was bright. I really just want to go back in and add more contrast, other than that the feature sizes and placements are fairly accurate.

Today our model did not show up (this happens sometimes). Luckily, a fellow artist had her grandson in town. At sixteen he still has a young sweet face with full cheeks (he would dislike that description but it's true). He was a great model, and again I thought I captured him. In real life he looked younger and somehow I made him a little more grown up, but even his Grandmother said that I got his likeness--Yes!

Look at all that hair, reminds me of a retro style --all long on top and shaggy on bottom. His eyes are light and bright and the light was hitting his face beautifully. I just want to say "Ahhh youth."

I've always worried about painting men and have thought about how to get their head proportions down correctly. I feel that my Figure Drawing classes and Portrait Workshops have really helped me to "See" so that I can get the correct widths and features down.