Jan 19th: Acrylic on Canvas

I don't know what my problem was last night. I would like to blame it on the sub-par lighting in the kitchen... but really, I have no idea. I started painting the oldest kid because he's in the middle and has the largest face in the painting. It took me forever to find a shade of brown for skin that wasn't horrible looking. You would think that because I'd done the previous painting, skin color would be no problem. Yeah, that's what I thought too. But there were issues. It looked purple. Then it looked Native American. Then it was too yellow and Asian looking. Oi.

Despite the fact that I used a grid, I realized that the oldest boys' nose was completely off. It was too straight. His face isn't facing forward, it's angled to the left; but I had painted the nose straight, making his face completely awkward looking. Luckily, I figured out what I'd done wrong, but I'm pretty confused why it got so messed up even with the grid. By the end of the day, I got something that's kinda, sorta, maybe like the picture... but looks nothing like the kid yet. His nose, dispite my efforts, still looks like it's facing straight on. It's the nose that makes him look so wierd! Shading's too dark and I've blended nothing. He looks like an elf or something! In short: it's a mess right now, but he's in there somewhere. I'll fix it on Friday because today I have work and karate right after. Today I expect more drawing on the baby portrait.