100 PORTRAITS IN 100 DAYS - Edgar, 4/100, © Carol Nelson Fine Art

Day 4
Fauvism was an art movement in the early 1900's made popular by Matisse and other artists of that time period. Art critics in Paris were aghast at the outrageous colors used in these paintings. Matisse's portrait of his wife, Madame Matisse, is also known as the green line.
My subject here, Edgar, said he would like a portrait done in Fauvist style, so I modeled the color scheme after Matisse's portrait of his wife.
As you can see, about the only thing that really represents Edgar are his blue eyes, yet it does look like him, green nose and all.
For purchase information, please see my website.

100 PORTRAITS IN 100 DAYS

WHAT: OK, here's the big project: Starting Jan 1, 2010, I will paint a portrait a day for 100 days. Whose portraits, you ask? That's where YOU come in. Anyone can email me, or mail me, a photo for consideration in the Portrait Project. By sending me a photo, you are giving me permission to paint the portrait and publish the completed painting along with the photo, on my blogs, my online gallery - Daily Painters.com, and on my website.

Each portrait will be painted on a 6x6 inch (15.2 x 15.2 cm) panel, in oil, and be available for sale for $65 plus $10 shipping/handling in the US, $20 international. If you wish to purchase a portrait, simply click on the Paypal button on my website.

WHEN: I will start collecting photos immediately and continue doing so during the duration of the project. I will choose which portraits I wish to paint, so sending me a photo does not GUARANTEE that it will be painted as a part of the project.

PRIVACY: I will only reveal the first name of the person, and each portrait will be given a number. So the first portrait will be, for example, "CAROL, 1/100", the second "JANE, 2/100" and so on. Your photo will NOT be returned.

PHOTO REQUIREMENTS: The photo you send should be from the shoulders up only. The photo should be taken by YOU, not a professional photographer. The best photos for portraits have strong light and shadow. A flash photo taken with you looking directly in the camera generally yields a flat image that is not as interesting to paint. No group photos, please.

I will not paint children less than 2 years of age, nor will I paint four-legged best friends. Oh, and please state your eye color, e.g., hazel, gray-green, dark blue, etc, because it's hard to see color in many photos.

WHY: Many of you have seen references on my blog to DSFDF. That stands for Different Strokes from Different Folks.blogspot.com. This is the fabulous Karin Jurick's blog where Karin posts a photo for anyone to paint and then posts it on her blog. Currently on DSFDF, she has participants painting portraits of fellow artists. This is a very fun project and I enjoy looking at all the portraits on that site.

A couple years ago, I did a mini version of this where I painted 12 portraits in Fauvist style. These twelve people are hanging on the wall in my bathroom and I enjoy looking at them every day - I'm used to these 12 people looking at me in the bathroom now, but at first it was a bit disconcerting.

STYLE: I will paint the portraits generally in a Fauvist style which involves using unusual colors and strong brushwork. Faces may be cropped for artistic effect. I may decide to give you a purple nose and a green forehead - I reserve the right to be wild and crazy. I will endeavor to achieve a likeness to the photo, but since I'm working from a single photo reference, I cannot guarantee the painting will be a perfect image.

OBLIGATION: You are under no obligation to purchase your portrait. This is not a commissioned portrait.

CONTACT: My email address is: carolnelsonfineart@comcast.net.
My studio address is: 13904 E. Radcliff Pl, Aurora, CO 80015

I think this has the potential to be a very fun project. Many daily painters have completed 100 paintings in 100 days, although I'm not aware of anyone doing strictly portraits as a project.
With your help, I will be able to create a sizable body of work and improve my skills as a portrait artist.

Faces, 12 oil portraits done in Fauvist style

They are done! I think the whole (group) is greater than the sum of it's parts. Having them all lined up together is a visual feast. You can't help but stop and inspect them. Since they're hanging on a wall in my bathroom, you can SIT and comtemplate the faces while attending to other matters.

They are sold as a group. Each 8x10 face is framed separately. They can be displayed all together, three groups of four, or any other configuration. I have them lined up in chronological order, with face 1 being on the upper left, but any order would work.

$1500

Please contact me directly to purchase, www.carolnelsonfineart@comcast.net

Click to enlarge. Commissions invited.

Face 12, oil portrait in fauvist style

This is the last in my fauvist portraits. YEA. As soon as I can frame this I will add it to my group collection. I have framed all of them in black, metal minimalist frames so they can be hung close together. Right now I have Faces 1-10 hanging on a wall in my bathroom. It's a little disconcerting to have all those people looking at you while you use the facilities. LOL

For purchase info, please see my website, www.carolnelsonfineart.com

Face 11, Oil portrait in fauvist style

I saw this little girl at an art festival. She was sitting with her friend who was playing the guitar. Such beautiful blue eyes she had.

Face10, Oil Portrait in Fauvist Style

For those of you who wish I would get back to my more typical paintings, this is #10 out of 12. There's something disturbing about the face colors with that hair color. She kinda looks frozen. LOL Only two more to go. I'm also working on a commission piece I think every one will like.

Face 7, Oil Portrait in Fauvist Style

The colors turned out great in this one.

Face 8

I had a case of artist's block for the past couple weeks. It's a hard thing to explain. I avoided going to the studio to work. I couldn't get motivated. Maybe it's just my creative side in need of retooling. Plus there was the computer problem. I think I'm OK now. I'm anxious to complete the rest of my faces.

Let me know who you think this person is. I used a grainy photo as a reference, but the likeness is definately there.

Lauren, Oil Portrait in Fauvist Style

This portrait is of my daughter, Lauren. I did it several years ago. It is not particularly representative of Fauvism, but now that I look at it, I can see I have a natural tendancy to put a great deal of color in the face. I will redo this in true fauvist style. Maybe give her a purple nose or something. LOL

Face 6, Oil Portrait in Fauvist Style

Another fauvist style portrait. I think I will probably do about a dozen in this series. I am learning more about rendering the human face with each painting. I doubt any one would want to purchase one of these, but when you see them all as a group, they're certainly a colorful bunch.

Face 5, oil portrait in fauvism style

Here's another portrait in the fauvism style. The model, in this case, is my daughter, Suzanne. I liked the naturalness of her pose as she was leaning back on the couch. I probably could have pushed the colors a little more. I think I read somewhere that portrait subjects should not have their teeth showing. I like the full smile in this one, so to heck with that rule.

Face 4, portrait in fauvist style

Continuing with my fauvist style paintings (see post of 1-14-08), I chose this one because of the strong light coming over her shoulder. As in the previous painting of my husband, I tried to push the colors way beyond what it normal.

Face 3, original oil portrait done in fauvist style

I could have called this painting A Man and His Remote. The model in this case is my husband. He is NOT a fan of fauvism. LOL I tried to push the color even more on this one. Matisse gave his wife a green stripe down the middle of her face. I gave my husband an orange stripe. The only object true to it's actual color is the silver and grey remote and his black sweater.

This may look like an easy way to paint, but if you're used to painting what you see, you have to really search your creative subconscious to come up with these wild colors.

Fauvism

Face 1 - Fauvism study

Face 2 - Fauvism study

Madame Matisse, the green line

I was invited to join a group of Fauvist painters on Boundless Gallery. I have to admit I didn't know what fauvism was, or why they selected me based on my work.

Fauvism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Les Fauves (French for The Wild Beasts) were a short-lived and loose grouping of early 20th century Modern artists, whose works emphasized painterly qualities, and strong colour over the representational values retained by Impressionism. While Fauvism as a style began around 1900 and continued beyond 1910, the movement as such lasted only three years, 1905–1907, and had three exhibitions. The leaders of the movement were Henri Matisse and André Derain

I thought it would be fun to try to paint in a fauvist style, so here are two portraits. I tried to push the color and style as much as I could. I think I need to push the colors more. Look at that green stripe Matisse gave to his wife's portrait!