No. 8 in the 52 Portraits in 52 weeks challenge

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We're about to start week 8 of the challenge and I just finished my eighth portrait so I am a week ahead, still.

In 2012, I went to an exhibit about the Titanic and your ticket identifies you as one of the passengers. I was Helen Bishop. Helen survived the sinking of the Titanic and went on to have her first child (which died a few days after), get caught up in an earthquake and then was badly injured in a car accident, and it seems the resulting brain trauma from that is what took her life. On the way out of the exhibit, I picked up a packet of Titanic ephemera (all reprints, obviously) and these form the base of my collage. There are plenty of websites on Titanic survivors around, so I found a photo of her to use.


The base colors of my palette are Cerulean Blue, Yellow Ochre, Venetian Red and Titanium White. I have enough left for another painting. (Even after I forgot to put the lid back onto the palette overnight.)


First layers
The results is a good likeness of her and there are things I might tweak to get it more accurate (one of her eyes for instance, and her ear, for another.) But I also want to start getting looser and if not abstract, then more concept like faces that have all the right shading but come from my imagination, and not a close following of the reference photo, which is what I have been doing.


I think this upcoming week might be one of the characters from the movie-musical "The Greatest Showman" -- or at least my take on her. As I have not been very successful in getting looser in my portraits, striving for the likeness so this might be one where she'll be recognizable by her cotton candy (fairy floss) hair and that will be it. That's my goal. I have enough paint on my palette to do this portrait but I'm wondering if I should use a different medium, like inks or watercolor on this next one.

If you're taking the challenge, how are you doing?

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