Leanne Shawler, Artist

Remember how Number 30 was going to be Number 29 but I finished that pencil portrait first? No? That's okay. Here is Number 30. It's a re-do of a stylized portrait that I did in 2015. (Gosh was it that long ago?) Here's that 2015 portrait. I also wanted to redo the portrait that I decided was too close to Tamara LaPorte's painting from LifeBook this year (and so I had refused to count it toward the 52 Portraits). Specifically, I wanted to take the over-sized glasses: And then Ivy Newport inspired me by playing with Gustav Klimt. (She has an online class if you want to explore Klimt's work.) This started out on a 16"x20" canvas board on June 4. I traced/transferred my face and the oversized glasses (I can tell you they really are that teal color) and then using the same reference photo of an old master (that actually hangs in a local art museum) that I used for the 2015 portrait, I sketched out the gown using a Lyra pencil. Yes, I had s...

Number 29 is actually still a work in progress, but in the meantime I finished another. So this Number 30 but as it's finished first, it's 29. Confused yet? Me too. Anyway, this is from the latest round of Weekend Challenges. I started the sketch on Tuesday on the train but it was a bit too bumpy, so I finished it on Wednesday. It is on a background I made a while ago after swatching the colors of some of Jane Davenport's sparkly Mermaid Markers. It's in colored pencil. OK, now back to work on the original Number 29, now 30, hopefully not 31.

I decided to continue my exploration of Golden's OPEN acrylics. Using the reference photo shared as part of one of the recent Weekend Challenges , I started with a Lyra pencil sketch, marking the shadows, and quickly blocked in a dark background of sepia ink. Using Raw Umber OPEN acrylic, I put in the shadow layer, which involved some dry brushing for the not so darks. It's a more subtle difference, but then she got the black and white photo treatment, except that I am still using Raw umber as the dark. I loved how creamy the paints are and how I could blend to get a gradation of shadow. Then I created two main flesh tones, adding white or raw umber, and then finally some Paynes Grey to get rid of the two tone "colorized photo" look. I used Golden's satin glazing liquid to gain even more translucency. Now that it is a finished page in my art journal, I have learned that it can take up to 30 days to fully cure. Hopefully it won't ta...

I have just finished another portrait (number 28 out of 52!) but before I share it, I thought I would join in this blog along about what I have learned over the past spring. Smelly Downton Abbey costumes? Before I start, I did say I would look for and find the article about wearing the same clothing for a month (one of the things Emily learned about Downton Abbey was that they never washed the costumes). I finally found it. It's more to do with bathing (or not) versus changing underwear (including camisoles etc) every day (or not). Here's the link , although admittedly for Tudor times. What Everyone Should Know about the Most Rev. Michael Curry We all watched the royal wedding, and for an Episcopalian what was striking was the sheer lack of research done in who Michael Curry is. He's the head of the Episcopal Church, the Presiding Bishop, sort of like an archbishop. Yes, the Archbishop of Canterbury is the head of the entire Anglican Communion (to which the Episcopa...

I had to take a little break from painting portraits. Don't worry, I have already started the next one, which will officially be two, actually, I think. But I took the Art Snacks challenge for May and combined it with an idea that came to me while listening to the Pug Party Podcast. Roxanne and James of the Pug Party Podcast were talking about how much better stale Peeps are from fresh ones in their 35th episode aptly titled "Stale Peeps".  The conversation about this occurs toward the end, from memory, but the podcast as a whole is well worth a listen. This is what Peeps are, for those who aren't familiar with them: (I am not sure if that is Peep poop in the left hand corner.) They are highly artificial marshmallows dusted in a ton of sugar and come in the shape of bunnies and chicks. To test the hypothesis of whether stale peeps are indeed better, I followed the instructions given by James in the podcast: cut a slit in the packaging, put in the cupboard ...

I started this portrait while at the ArtSnacks pop up art party in Los Angeles in March, using a circle of rough, handmade watercolor paper, and the few materials we had to hand. I glued it in with heavy matte gel and let it dry. I thought to loosen up, I would use a method I learned during LifeBook 2016 from Effy Wild and Tamara Laporte . It's using various prompts drawn at random. The first prompt was very simple. Use a smudgeable pencil. After several prompts, I had a background. I worked on the face also in watercolor and acrylic leftover the previous two paintings. And then it got really ugly as I persisted in using what was left on my watercolor palette. But this is where it really gets cool -- and I totally abandoned the prompts idea. I didn't like the ridge of where the thick watercolor paper met the journal page, so I used light molding paste through a stencil. Unfortunately, I used the stencil backward before I realized it, so I might end u...

I don't remember how I stumbled across her, perhaps through Pinterest or something, but it was the story of Jaguarina, the nineteenth century swordswoman, who attracted me as a potential portrait. (Which shouldn't surprise anyone who knows me.) She went practically undefeated. This link recounts one of her duels. There are pictures of her in her late nineteenth century garb, and this one, in plate armor with her hair looking cropped (but surely pulled back into a tight bun). And so, using the palette left over from last week, I got started. It starts with some leftover paint from a couple of portraits ago, which got a bit tricky as I went over the darker values, and I had to switch to a cream Posca paint pen to see the lines. I should have done so with the chin also, because then I would have realized that her face was too long, but oh well... I rather like the innocent look of this sketch, it echoes her rather plaintive expression in the original, but then I went an...