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two acrylic portrait paintings from photos

Two Paintings

Posted on April 13, 2022April 13, 2022

These two acrylic portraits were commissioned by Tara’s husband as a gift to commemorate the year 2020. In May of this year Elvis, the cat, much beloved by Tara sadly passed away. In August of that year their son was born and the sad event was followed by a happy one. The client wanted to commission two portraits as a keepsake for his family.

Two acrylic portrait paintings, Elvis the tabby cat and Mom holding her baby boy, 25 x 20 cm

Both portraits were the same size at 25 x 20 cm. I had one photograph to work from for Tara and her baby boy’s portrait painting and a few photos of Elvis, the cat. Elvis liked to close his eyes a lot and it was a challenge for the client to find the right photo of him for the painting.

portrait painting of a woman holding her baby son
Tara holding her son, detail of the portrait painting canvas

Tara’s painting was worked with my usual palette of yellow ochre, venetian red and ultramarine blue as a base mix with the additions of cool versions of my basic mix including lemon yellow, cerulian blue and alizarin crimson. For a white I use Titanium as I find it mixes well with the colours I use. I softened the glare in Tara’s glasses to make her eyes a little more visible.

Tara and Harrison, mother and son painting, acrylic on stretched canvas, 25 x 20 cm

I tend to create a line sketch first to establish the likenesses and once I am happy with that, I move onto colour blocking. I work in thin layers until I am happy with the result. I then put the painting away for a couple of days and look at it with fresh eyes which makes it easier to spot any areas I want to fix.

painting in progress
Detailing the portrait
work in progress on a portrait painting
Colour blocking
photo for a portrait
Reference photo for Tara’s painting

For Elvis the tabby cat’s painting, I used the same mix of colours with the addition of burnt umber to allow some translucency in his coat. There was a bit of foreshortening with the angle the photos was taken so I worked on making his eyes as prominent as possible.

tabby cat pet portrait painting
Elvis, the tabby cat, 25 x 20 cm, acrylic on stretched canvas

I worked the same way as with Tara’s painting, starting with a line sketch, then adding basic colour mixes in blocks and working in thin coats of paint until the painting was finished.

colour blocking a cat portrait painting
Adding colour blocks to Elvis’s portrait
adding detail to a tabby cat portrait painting
Adding detail to Elvis’s portrait
Reference photo for Elvis’s portrait

I varnish finished paintings with two thin coats of satin varnish which keeps the paintings clean and colour preserved. The varnish is removable. I scan paintings in-house with my Epson scanner and email images to the client for approval. The client was very happy with these two paintings and wrote me some lovely emails when he received both scans and the actual paintings in the post:

They look great Ivana. They’re so lifelike. Just like the pics but better…..

…..I just want to take this time to give a huge thank you from Tara and I for the beautiful portraits. Quite simply they’re incredible, better than any photograph and have a life, soul of their own. Exactly what I hoped they’d be but even better. 

Tara was reduced to tears with just how brilliant they were and how personal these portraits are going to be for her. 

We love them.

Thank you so much, and we will definitely be back to you in the future for our family portrait, if that’s OK.

Yours kindly,

Noel, Tara & Harrison, Cork, Ireland

About

I am a portrait artist based in county Kildare, Ireland. You can follow this blog to see my current commissions and news from my portrait studio. I post scans of finished portraits together with works in progress.
You are welcome to leave comments to any post. I am always happy to hear from you.

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