This week was another week spent in the studio working on my portfolio.

I am still questioning whether to go for less colour and more neutrals- perhaps working with more grey tones in the background and having the figure be in black and white with just the eyes, hair and nails in colour?

I could do a colour wash over the figure to make them in colour but then it kind of reminds me of the film - Pleasantville, which I don’t really want people to associate with that.

I had a really difficult time making decisions about the glasses, how colourful they should be, and which colours. So used Procreate to try out different colour options. Photographing the artwork and then drawing over the top of it the sunglasses in different colours.

So as I ponder these thoughts, I might try this approach on some of the smaller canvases I have over the next couple of weeks. This week I also tried a new approach for painting- laying down the background on a number of canvases that I would then work on in subsequent weeks- rather than just putting down the background on the canvases that I plan to do this week.

And although I planned to do these next two prepped canvases next week, I’m feeling like I need the quick win of working on some smaller canvases. I really enjoy working quickly and that feeling of accomplishing a lot of different paintings quickly, so maybe I need to alternate between working large and working small in order to satisfy my ever oscillating moods.

The pep talk this week was Jake’s story, showing how he pushed the envelope in his painting of light, from what he was exploring in the mixed media section, to his portfolio work, to the kinds of things he was painting after completing the program and how he continues to explore light.

The other thing that happened this week was that I got a commission.

And essentially it was the small scale realism lesson revisited. So I just wanted to say that, taking this program enabled me to be able to tackle that commission with confidence, and understand where to begin and what process to use to create something so small scale and realistic.

That is one really tangible benefit to having taken this program, that I at the very least have a lot more confidence in my skills and in knowing that the quality of my work, the materials and processes I’m using are of a professional standard, which helps me to feel comfortable and justified in charging professional prices for my artwork.