Portrait Painting

“Milani” acrylic on canvas

I mentioned in my last post, I have a painting project I want to start on. Well a couple of weeks have passed and I have completed it.

I’m focusing on painting in acrylic this year. I find acrylic is less fussy (solvent-wise) than painting in oils. But I do enjoy both mediums.

The little girl is my sisters little grand daughter, Milani. She is such a little cutie, which made it all the more fun to attempt to paint her.

One thing I didn’t realise when I started this painting is how easy it is to make toddlers look older if the shadows are too dark. Also, if you’re painting from a photo, having more lights and darker shadows do make it easier to paint. I did my best but will look forward to painting more youngsters in the future to practice.

I finished the painting by adding a couple of layers of a glossy self-leveling medium. Once that dried, I added a layer of “matte” varnish to knock back the glossy shine.

If you’re wondering why I didn’t just use the matte varnish, I chose to use the glossy layer to bring back the richness of the colors. Acrylics tend to dry a bit flat.

glossy layer

matte layer