Oil Portrait of Becky

"Becky in Portrait Class" (18"X14", Oil on Canvas, $300)

This was done in two sessions of a portrait class that I took in Boston's Fort Point Channel district. Lots of artists and instructors live there in lofts and give classes. This was in Lisa Knox's life portrait painting class. The class was pretty good, and I learned a few very useful things, but as usual, the course and the classes themselves weren't really long enough.

I did two portraits of Becky (a model I've known for years through other painting courses and the life drawing group at the Museum of Fine Arts) from different angles, but I like this one better. She has a kind of 'Irish' look to her, which is helped by the redness of her hair. I like the looseness of the clothing and the background in this version, and the color harmony throughout. I really like painting faces and figures and I like adding them to my paintings of other things. A picture of a building or a beach can be rather static without some people to give it some life.