Starting anew

I started some new things this morning. First, a home portrait. I usually start this way, drawing in pencil to get a feeling for the composition of the painting and the challenging parts of the subject. For example, I drew and erased the top left roof line 3-4 times. And then I still made the second story too tall on the left hand side.

Drawing sometimes shows me what to do to make the background and foreground of the painting interesting. In this case, I tried working out some values for the four corners of the painting.

This is a "from the right" photo of the home. Next, I'll draw it "from the left" and "head-on" using the following photos.

I plan to show these three pencil sketches to the homeowner this weekend, so we can talk more about what she wants, and doesn't want, in her home portrait.

The other thing I started this morning are my last Secret ArtWORKs for Nov 21. I can't say too much about them, because "It's a secret"  but I've supported this organization and its mission ever since I started painting at the Pendleton Art Center, where I learned about it To find out more, check the web at http://www.artworkscincinnati.org/secret-artists-submissions/