656 Garbo Dreams

Garbo Dreams

oil on canvas

6x6"

$100

     In my love of painting faces, I come back again and again to Garbo. Did you ever notice she has a little cleft chin? Is that an imperfection or does it make her more perfect?

 

621 Simone

 Simone

oil on canvas

6x6"

$100

     Simone Simon, such a pretty one. I liked her in Cat People, a scary and psychologically interesting old movie. Her hair was darker in that movie, but she is blondish here in this photo that I found. Hollywood probably made everybody a blonde at least once.

601 Carmen M

 Carmen M

oil on canvas

6x6"

$100

     Painting teeth in a portrait is not recommended. But how can I paint Carmen without her big smile?

     I never saw her in her old movies when she was not smiling, sparkling, and having so much fun.

600 Brooks

 Brooks

oil on canvas

6x6"

$100

     This time I painted Louise with a slightly different limited palette: chromatic black, cad red light, yellow ochre, and white, of course. I am stunned by the beautiful colors that come from just those four paints. I worked from a black and white photograph and just used the values that the colors gave me.

       

573 Greta in Blue Cap

Greta in Blue Cap

oil on canvas board, cradled

6x6"

$100

     I measured her face to see how she stacked up to the Golden Ratio. Point for point perfection. I love her in Ninotchka, when she says, "Must you flirt? Suppress it."

566 Marlene D

Marlene D

oil on canvas

6x6"

$100

     I like Marlene very much, but she is just a little scary. Those eyes seem to say to me that she means business.

     She is most often seen in her movies as a blonde but this image suggests quite dark hair. It looks good.

     My favorite of her movies is Witness for the Prosecution.

563 Loretta

Loretta

oil on canvas

6x6

$100

     Same old problem, they are more beautiful than I can make them. I am doing better these days with the likeness though.

558 Louise B

Louise B

oil on canvas

6x6"

$100

     Louise Brooks--I have painted her several times. I enjoy her "garconne" look, but I do not worry too much about likeness since her haircut identifies her so quickly. But this time I really did try to get a good likeness because I met the president of the Louise Brooks Society, and if anyone would notice if I got it right or not, he would.

550 Marlene

Marlene

oil on canvas

6x6"

$100

     Marlene embodies that look I love from the 30's and 40's. In this image she is so proud and defiant looking. I almost got it, but not quite.

545 Eleanor

Eleanor

oil on cradled canvas board

6x6"

$100

     Eleanor Powell was a fabulous dancer. She had such a sweet, wholesome look that made me like her, but she was not much of an actress, which probably explains why she was rarely a leading lady. She was still a bundle of talent. I love the one where she dances with the dog.

543 Zhou Xuan

Zhou Xuan

oil on cradled canvas board

6x6"

$100

     Zhou Xuan is a Chinese actress and singer, very popular from the 30's. She is so pretty and delicate. You Tube has a recording of her singing. Hearing it made her come so alive for me.

538 Leila

Leila

oil on canvas

6x6"

$100

     I have just recently discovered Leila Hyams from the early talkies. IMDb gives her a glowing write up. I think she is adorable and look forward to trying her again a few more times.

     It is funny how when you are painting, you begin to concentrate on one thing or another and forget about concentrating on so many other things. I would have thought it would all be second nature by now, but for me, not so.

Rochelle

Oil on Canvas

7x5"

$100

     I try to do the faces fast. When I struggle with some part, I will, without fail, overwork it. I am learning to wash it down right away and start over. Saves time. I want it to be the briefest expression of the lovely face. And if I do enough faces, I will learn so much about how a face is made. 

     I learned the indentation above the lip is called the philtrum. I love knowing that.

Louise in a Hat

Oil on Canvas

6x6"

$100

     Louise Brooks, from the 20's and 30's, I think. Those crazy little eyebrows. I think she is cute. I must try to see one of her movies.

La Brunette

Oil on Canvas

7x5"

$100

     I have painted her before and she did not look any more like her then than she does this time. She is perfectly perfect. You would think all I needed to do was line everything up and there would be her likeness. I must have made some mistakes in lining everything up. She is still a pretty face and I like that.

Ruan Lingyu

Ruan Lingyu

Oil on Canvas

6x6"

$100

     Ruan Lingyu was a Chinese silent film actress who died young. Her sweet gentle expression charmed me and made me want to paint her.

Ginger

Oil on Canvas

6x6"

$100

     I love working with the limited palette. It gives me much more interesting shadows in the little faces. This is ultramarine blue, alizarin, and yellow ochre, and white.

Lovely Rita

Lovely Rita

Oil on Canvas

6 x 6"

$100

     This face turned out fairly good. When they do not turn out, I could blame it on their faces being just too hard to paint, but that is impossible. They are some of the world's best faces, very symmetrical, perfectly aligned, ideally composed. The true problem lies in the artist and her ability to make them as beautiful as they really are.

   

Not Gene

Not Gene

Oil on Canvas

6x6"

$100

 

     Painting these little faces is my favorite studio time. I always start with someone specific in mind, but as I paint, the face so often turns into someone else. That someone seems so real to me that I allow it to be and enjoy it instead of fretting over not capturing the likeness I had in mind at the beginning. I realize this kind of thinking would not take me very far if I were in the portrait painting business.

Ava 2

Oil on Canvas

6x6"

$100

I have a lot to say about this. First, my subject is so fabulous that it is impossible to capture even a fragment of her beauty. Second, this is not what I am aiming for. I wanted it to be much more abstract, but I got caught in the process of finding her presence that I forgot to be expressive with my paint. Some faces are easy to paint and others resist it. This one resisted. I worked very hard on it. I should have known I was heading down the wrong path. If it is that hard, I am probably too deep into the parts that I do not want to paint but that are jumping up and down demanding attention. I want it to be a painting, not a drawing. 

So am I going to keep it? Yes.