"Two Sided"

Pencil and Charcoal

This picture was done for Draw 2 my Sophomore year. The idea is that everyone has both good and bad sides to them. I struggled a little with this picture trying to get the angles. Before I started drawing, I had my dad take a picture of me in front of his closet mirrors. We had to take about two different pictures for each character and I changed into different outfits each time, so the finished product is actually several pictures placed into one. I think I like everything but the long noses and the arm on the right. 

First Portraits

"Street Portraits"

Charcoal/pencil

I did all of these pictures for my street portrait business last summer. The first picture I did off the internet while the other two pictures I drew from life. My street portrait business is called Venetia Art and I accept commissions via email- venetiaart@comcast.net. Each portrait is $25 for a head portrait and $35 for a head and shoulder portrait, tax included. 

"A Study of Mary Cassatt and Rosanne Kaloustian"

My art box

Acrylics

This was one of my assignments from painting 2 where we had to research two artists- one contemporary and one impressionistic. I found photos my dad had taken and used those as my picture reference. The top picture done in the same style as Mary Cassatt's paintings is actually me and my younger brother when we were in grade school. The door picture was taken in England when we took a family vacation there. The faces of the kids were so small, it was difficult to paint them with any detail at all. I'm not entirely satisfied with the door picture's arrangement- the picture is not quite balanced on both sides and the wall on the right side of the door doesn't look natural because the vines would not stop growing in a straight line.

"Big Thompson"

8 1/2" X 11 1/2"

Water colors and Acrylic

This was my first plein air picture! I did this the summer after 8th grade during a plein air event. I had no idea what it would turn out like, so I just painted. The watercolor was used as a base coat while I used pure acrylic colors on top of it. While I was painting this, it was so cold I couldn't feel my fingers, but I am happy about how it turned out. If I could go over it, I would just add a little line of blue around the large rock on the right because right now it blends too much with the water. I would also get rid of the white spots, but seeing as this is my first plein air picture, I'm happy with it as it is. 

                                                                     "Superman"
                                                                       8" X 10"
                                                         Pencil/pen, computer enhanced
I drew this from a picture online- I was in a Twilight mood and wanted to create my ideal vampire. This guy's    expression appealed to me because it combines the mysterious, brooding look with a sense of humor. When I drew this with pencil and pen, it didn't turn out as dark and intense as I was hoping for, so after scanning it I  used paint strokes and increased the saturation. I posted this on Facebook and one of my friends commented that he looks like superman, hence the title.