My Portrait Works

After I commented on the new Princes William and Harry's official portrait and Charles IV and His Family by Goya in my last blog entry, I took stock of my humble portrait works. I started to paint and draw portrait in realistic way. I took a wonderful portrait painting class with Carin Hebenstreit in Cincinnati. Her method was very traditional. According to her website, “her technique, influenced by the Renaissance masters and honed through years of study abroad, incorporates glazing layers of paint over her underpainting to produce luminosity and richness of color.” She taught me the technique employed by the old masters and trained my way of observation. My Woman with White Straw Hat below was done in her class I took. It was the foundation for me to build my oeuvre, and gave me the confidence of my technique and allowed my freedom to explore and develop my own way of painting.


Woman in White Straw Hat, 28" x 22", 1997

Over the years, my portrait paintings, though still figurative and traditional, became more expressive and hopefully, even truer:


Portrait, Blue & Gold, 20" x 16", 2000


A Young Frenchman, 24" x 20", 2001


Gaze, 28" x 22", 2002


Grandma, 40" x 30", 2003


Orange, 28" x 22", 2006


Aspects, 28" x 22", 2006


Irises, 30" x 24", 2006


Fruition, 20" x 24", 2006


Ecstasy, 20" x 30", 2006


Orange Parisian, 24" x 18", 2008


Progression, 30" x 24", 2009

And a couple charcoal drawings made in late 2000s:

 

For my portrait paintings, please visit my Portrait set on Flickr.com.