Kailey Rose, Cam and Parker

 

NFS - 18x22in. - Oil. - "Kailey Rose, Cam and Parker"

The reference for this portrait was a challenge to acquire, as you might imagine with 3 kids this young. I picked two spots and shot about 10 million photos in 15 minutes - just held the button down. Then I gave them candy - always a hit. At home I combed through my haul and ended up combining a few photos to get one where they were all smiling and doing interesting things with their hands. The actual painting part went pretty smoothly, for some reason. I'm quite happy with it.

Emerson

NFS - 24x18in. - oil. - "Emerson"

This is Emerson. We had so much fun wandering around her grandparent's neighborhood. Fortunately her beloved toy 4-wheeler couldn't go much faster than my normal walking speed, otherwise I would have been left in the dust.

I am finding it incredibly challenging to get good photos of these larger paintings. There always seems to be glare somewhere. But I will keep working on it.

Rachel and Katie

NFS - 26x24in. - oil - "Rachel and Katie"

These are the adult children of a good friend. I figured I needed practice with adults as well, and these 2 were a joy to get to know! And beautiful to boot, as you can see.

Getting good references of more than one person at a time is quite a challenge, but one that I sincerely enjoy. I have one in the works with 3 kids (including a baby!). For this one above I ended up frankensteining a couple of photos together, which I'm finding is the norm. Which is why I take a gazillion photos at every session.

Minna by the Creek

 

NFS - 23x16in. - oil - "Minna by the Creek"

Here is another one of sweet Minna. Her grandma came to pick both paintings up yesterday and seemed very happy. This one is my personal favorite so far.

Minna

 

NFS - 22x15in. - oil. - "Minna"

I keep feeling compelled to make my paintings larger, but the bigger they get the harder they are to photograph! So I'll mention again that these look so much better in person.

This is Minna (pronounced Mee-na). She is three and full of spunk and confidence. Her grandma met me at a park and then disappeared for an hour, which turned out to be perfect. Minna and I explored the park and the creek that runs through it. I got to know her, and saw her in all kinds of light, which I find is VERY helpful when I am painting.

Norah

 

NFS - 19x12in. - oil - "Norah"

This is my new friend, Norah. She is completely adorable, as you can see. And very shy. It took me a while to get her to smile.

Avery

NFS - 16x16in. - Oil. - "Avery"

Avery was a wonderful model. She loves the camera and the camera loves her. For this pose she was in the shade of a big tree, with a lot of darkness behind her. I played around with the reference image on my ipad and decided a light background would work best. The only problem was the dress was suddenly mostly the same value as the background, so I tried an outline and found I really liked it! I have found my ipad to be indispensable for these portraits.

Audrey

 

NFS - 22x12in. - Oil. - "Audrey"

Audrey lives across the street from us. When they first moved in she was just a baby, so we have been watching her grow up. We had a lovely photo shoot at a park in town recently. At one point she walked up into a closed little staircase that was all dark except for the bottom step. The light that reflected up on her was just spectacular. So much color! (click image to see larger)

Hattie & Margot

NFS - 12x20in. - Oil - "Sisters"

Here are the two sisters, Hattie and Margot, together. I asked them to sit together but looking in opposite directions. When I said - "ok, now look at each other," they spontaneously broke into big smiles! I hope they always get along this well. : )

I feel compelled to say - all these portraits look better in person. And that - I'm learning so much. And did I say - loving it?!

Hattie

 

NFS - 9x12in. - Oil. - "Hattie"

This is Hattie, Margot's older sister. I am learning SO MUCH doing these portraits. And (did I say?) thoroughly enjoying it! 

A REMINDER: My Portland, OR workshop (July 11-14, 2024) will open for registration tomorrow morning at 10 am PDT, for any of you who might be interested. You can either go to my workshops page, or use this link (that won't be active until the appointed time).

Margot

NFS - 16x12in. - Oil. - "Margot"

This is Margot. We had a group photo shoot a few weeks ago, with Margot and her sister, Hattie, and the other two kids I've painted so far - Rietta and Ryan - all grandkids of some good friends of mine. They ran around at the playground, and whenever they were in particularly good light, or a fabulous setting popped up (like this little playhouse window) I said - hold it right there! Otherwise they just played together. I was mostly an observer, and it was so neat to see their personalities emerge. People are just fascinating, and kids are great because they haven't learned to fake anything yet. I am loving this!!

Ryan

NFS - 10x10in. - Oil - "Ryan"

This is Ryan, the brother of Rietta (from the last portrait I posted). He is 9 and was a little harder to photograph because he was constantly moving. I got probably 20 good shots of his sister for every one of him. Haha! Such a boy. : )

WORKSHOP UPDATE - I didn't do a great job explaining the workshop I'm doing next year. For one thing I forgot to say where - it'll be in Portland, OR. And I should have said - the link to sign up won't be active until Aug 10 at 10 am PDT. I will post a reminder on the 9th. If you would like an email sent to you the day before, with a link, just email me (me@carolmarine.com) and I'll make that happen.

Rietta

 

NFS - 10x10in. - oil - Rietta

Recently I have been borrowing kids from my friends. I have found GREAT joy in painting them! More on that later. For now, I have a

WORKSHOP PRE-ANNOUNCEMENT!

One week from now, on August 10th at 10am PDT, (note the time zone!) if you're interested, you can sign up for a workshop that will happen next year, July 11-14, 2024. Here's the official description:

In this workshop we will be focusing on the fundamentals of still life painting, in a small format, using oil (acrylic or gouache also ok). My teaching philosophy is: say it, show it, and then you try it; repeat. Towards that end I'll be demoing daily and talking about how and why I do what I do, and then helping as you paint. We will do fun exercises that include ten-minute-apples and "one stroke" paintings. These will help you jump-start a potential daily practice (a great way to improve!) and take a step away from fussy, lifeless paintings. If you want to paint poems rather than dissertations, this workshop is for you!

SIGN UP HERE

Curious

sold

The painting above is of a little girl I spotted on the zoo-train in Portland. She was sitting right in front of us and never stopped peeking over the back of her seat. I had fun painting her all different colors - something I've been wanting to do.

To the right is my son, Jacob, peering out the back"door" of our house in Eugene, OR. This one isn't for sale, for obvious reasons.

Miranda, Bored

sold

Last night I went to a figure session with my friends Sarah and Gabriella (I posted pics of us on my Facebook page). It was a 3-hr session and about halfway through I completely wiped the face. Our model, Miranda, is very attractive and my first attempt made her look like a monster. I wasn't happy with my second attempt either, until the last 20 minutes, when it all came together. Even though the result still doesn't do Miranda justice, I'm happy with it.

Happy Happy

Here is my latest silly face painting. The teeth especially were super hard, but I am really happy with this one. I recognize now that these are incredibly personal so I've undecided to sell them. : ) I am going to frame them all at some point and hang them up together and it's going to be incredibly cool.

Wowser!

Click Here to Bid

What I have realized about these faces is - to get them super accurate (I mean, to get them to actually look not only like a human being but like a SPECIFIC one) is hard, especially with my loose style. I found I was getting tighter and tighter and not enjoying the process much at all. So when I did this one and the one I posted a few days ago, I gave myself permission to do whatever! I decided the photos were just a starting point, and I could run wild with my brush strokes. What followed was much fun for me! And I love the result and that's all that matters.

To answer a common question, no I don't do portrait commissions. Sorry. In fact, I don't take commissions at all anymore. If you've done them yourself you know they are no fun, and I consider myself very lucky that I can afford to turn them down. If you are looking for a portrait artist, my friend Susan Carlin is super-fabulous. Check out her blog too.

Goofiness

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I have to admit I was a bit discouraged after my first round of silly faces, so I took some time off. Recently I revisited my files and did a couple that I am really proud of. I decided to sit on them for a while, but several weeks later I am still happy with them so I am posting them, and for sale too. If they don't sell I will be happy to keep them for my own collection. I figure it's a win-win situation.

Keaton - SOLD

Happy Mother's Day to all you fellow mom's out there! This is a painting I did last week of my nephew, Keaton. When Keaton was two I was watching him one day and he saw some ant bites on my son's legs. He said "what happened?" I said, "oh, he got bit by some ants." He thought for a few minutes and then said "Aunt Carol bites?" I still get a kick out of that. I hope Keaton's mom is having a wonderful day!

Mary Jane Heels - SOLD

Click Here to Bid

For all of you who guessed the portrait I posted yesterday was of my son, I am sorry to disappoint. His name is Isaac and he is the son of my very good friend Karen (who was out all day and didn't see my blog until tonight!). Our kids are one month apart in age, and good friends. But while they are both silly, I would argue my son is more the ham. Hence the scissors, below, in my son's hands. And for this one I did have fussy parents: myself and my husband. We both agree he looks a little older here than reality, but still more or less like Jacob.