Portraiture by Edward Hopper

Here is a great portrait by Edward Hopper. It is an interesting pose that he chose to paint his wife. He probably painted her in on the spot (plein air).

He painted her as she painted.

Amazing how he makes it look simple.

Aidan

This project has been a challenge in that it has been my first attempt at a portrait in a long time.

I like the finished product (almost finished) but I continue to like the earlier stage above. Something about the unfinished quality is interesting. I need to play with this in future paintings.

Well, this was a good first try, but it is over worked and my transitions are a bit abrupt. The contrast is good. I did smooth out the gradient on his arm, which you can see in the two close-up photos.

Painting or drawing a likeness is one of the hardest things that I have done. This came out very close to what Aidan looks like, which is promising.

Aidan has a rather heroic pose going on here and I am glad I could capture it. He has been watching me do the painting and he seems pleased. He asked me how much I was going to sell it for and I told him that it would probably not go up for sale.

Three paintings

Today is Sunday and I completed the under painting on the left.

Now I have three painting starts.
I have a bit of a cold or something and the associated aches and pains are keeping me from painting more today.

I have had two breaks during this mornings session, which is how many I should take anyway.

Painting Aidan

I needed a break from all the urban/industrial scenes so I am finally trying some paintings of people.
In this case, I started a painting of my son at the beach. While I still used a grid to help with the under painting, I did not need to do any additional layout lines. I just went right to laying down paint to sketch out the scene. This was very relaxing and very satisfying.
This image of Aidan at the beach was one of the rare moments that I was able to get him to pose, but not pose for a photo, if that makes any sense.
The composition is good with the opportunity to create color fields with the background elements. The light and shadow contrast is very good. September light is my favorite for it's long shadows and warm glow.
The canvas is 16" x 32", for which I made the stretcher of old wood from the Rebuilding Center. I will be starting another painting of this size as well, which will be of my wife and kids on their way to school.