Whole New Meaning to Portrait Painting

Acrylic paint on canvas

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This is a portrait painting of my niece that I did my senior year of high school.
My sister had been asking for an artwork of my niece and I hadn't been able to find time to do it.
This painting currently hangs in my sister's home.
I had a project in painting class where we could paint portraits. Our portraits were suppose to reflect how we see the individual. We were studying an artist at the time who painted how she saw people, often they were distorted views but still gave a sense of their personality.
Alice Neel, an expressionistic portrait painter is known for her use of line and color to portray the emotion of the moment.
If you want to check out some of her work, her website is below:

http://www.aliceneel.com/home/

Now I knew that I wanted my painting to be more realistic in the sens of proportions because I was giving this to my sister. But I stayed true to Neel's use of colors to portray emotion and personality.
Our styles and technique are very different. I knew what I wanted to do and did so within the limitations of the project. Of course I did not get 100% on this project considering that i really took this in my own direction.

I at first chose a pink- orange to represent my niece with a green strip-like background. However I later changed my initial plan. After it being pointed out to me and my painting neighbor that we had very similar color schemes, I started to reconsider my color choice. The green wasn't working how I wanted. Everything seemed to not be working.
I was inspired by other projects. I wanted my niece to seem as though she glowed. I wanted her to radiate just as she does in person. I wanted to portray her wild hair in the brush strokes and her petal-soft smile within the color of her skin.

Perhaps gender here is a bit ambiguous. Maybe longer eyelashes might has portrayed a gender more thoroughly. I have had multiple people refer to her as a boy. Perhaps this painting portrays her in a boyish way.
Perhaps it is a reflection of her-inner wild-child tom-boy ways. The light blue provides a glowing sensation. She is special.

Here you see my signature blue and red. I can't stay away from the color palette. I love blue and red together. It makes so much sense. Providing boldness in the red with a sort of calming balance in the blue.
I chose to omit certain details do to timing constraints. But the original photo I took is provided below:

Here is my original sketch. She looks a little demented, but it helped provide a basis for knowing what I wanted and what I didn't want. I did the sketch in prismacolor color pencil.

This is towards the end, an in-progress picture.

I did win an honorable mention for this piece at my senior art show. I was really happy this was chosen because it really reflects one the the people in my life who I value the most. I love my niece with everything in me. It shows how I see her.

Hope you enjoyed and perhaps feel inspired to do a portrait of someone you love in a similar style.

Happy painting,

Truthtalks

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@truthtalks
https://steemit.com/@truthtalks
March 2, 2018