Personal Art: Lyndi & Kyle Tiggemann & A Painting On Design Sponge

Last year I finished this portrait of my friends Lyndi & Kyle Tiggemann. I created this portrait for their wedding gift and I am so glad I did! I really like how it turned out in the end. It is always a struggle to get every detail right in a portrait of someone you know and this one was of two people! You don't want to get something wrong which could end up hurting the feelings of the person you've drawn when  you've drawn a nose too big or the eyes too small. I really can't wait to do another couples portrait.

The Tiggemanns hung their portrait up in their living room which I so much appreciate. Kyle's twin, Blake, also did a full figure portrait of them with their pup Pete in oil paint. Once, Lyndi said she thought people might think they're vain but I think they just have creative friends who find them attractive enough do draw and paint!

Sometimes you don't know where your art ends up when given to another. I've been in friends' homes before and can't find a portrait I did for them anywhere and it breaks me a little bit each time. Recently though, one of my paintings was photographed in my friend Casey Bovee's home which can be seen in her house tour featured on Design Sponge. I was elated when I saw the painting on one of my favorite blogs as I had no idea it would be included in the tour! You can't even imagine how happy I was! 

Looking back on it I'm upset that I did this in oil. It is by far my best oil painting but I am just not an oil painter. I've kept those supplies just in case but I really want to stick to graphite from now on. Here are some photographs of that piece, the first is a truer representation of the painting while the second is captured more beautifully by photographer Matt Douglas. 

Personal Art: Sam Shakusky & Suzy Bishop

I recently finished a portraits of Sam Shakusky and Suzy Bishop from Moonrise Kingdom. These are the first portraits I have done with plans to make prints and open an Etsy shop. I really love how they both turned out, however I received a more positive response over the Sam Shakusky portrait. I assume it is because of the amount of detail in his outfit. I struggled a bit with not receiving as much positive feed back, or feedback at all, over the Suzy Bishop portrait. I understand that she is not as detailed because her outfit is less interesting but I'm not sure what else it is. She is one interesting looking girl. Maybe it is her nose, that was pretty tricky to get. Maybe I didn't get it at all.

Do you ever struggle with putting your work out there? It is so intimidating.

Personal Art: Bill Murray

Here is the handsome Bill Murray for ya! This piece measures 18 x 24 inches as well and took me sooo long. Beards are beautiful but a torture to draw. Something seems off about his mouth, but I worked for ages on it referencing the photograph every second to make sure I wasn't just being sloppy but that bottom lip looks off center in the picture too. Maybe Bill Murray has an imperfect face like the rest of us.

 

Personal Art: Woody Allen

This piece I finished soooo long ago. It was a gift for my sister in-lawish, Hana. She loves Woody Allen more than Matt and I do. I wanted to be selfish and keep it for myself but sometimes you have to let things go. The piece measures 18 x 24 inches. It took me so long to finish that black sweater but I can thank my 9XXB pencil for that, sounds like an X-Rated movie… I love how this piece turned out. Now I just need to buckle down and fork over money for custom framing.