Bill Coulter's Blog

2009-05-14T18:39:00.001-07:00

Finally got around to finishing this!

2009-04-05T19:11:00.001-07:00

Here's an update on Adam, still quite a bit to do.

2009-03-29T19:23:00.000-07:00

I started on a portrait of Adam, our second son, this weekend. Here are the first two days work. I know it's not much to look at so far, Adam looks funny with one eye more finished than the other!

2009-03-07T19:15:00.001-08:00

Finished

2009-02-22T17:51:00.000-08:00

Almost done, I'll set this aside for a few days and see if any corrections jump out at me.

2009-02-21T18:23:00.000-08:00

Here's todays update, still not done.

2009-02-15T20:31:00.001-08:00

I put in a couple more hours on this before calling it a night.

2009-02-15T15:35:00.000-08:00

I worked on Michaels portrait for most of today. I still have a long ways to go. Feature wise I can see that the eyes and nose need a bit of adjusting, they're not quite right yet. I'll adjust them as I continue building layers and value.

2009-02-13T18:40:00.000-08:00

I'm finally getting started on Michael. This portrait will be the same size as Hannah's. This is just the very beginning, trying to get the features close and some basic values established. I think his eyes are pretty close already but will certainly be tweaking them as I go.

2009-02-01T19:46:00.001-08:00

Finished! Now on to Michael.

2009-02-01T06:12:00.000-08:00

I'm just about finished with this. A little tweaking here and there and I'll be ready to call it done. Now to start looking for photo's of my sons, they're next.

2009-01-25T17:31:00.000-08:00

I worked on this for several hours today. The hair still isn't finished.

2009-01-18T17:54:00.001-08:00

Getting close.

2009-01-17T18:27:00.001-08:00

Here's todays progress on Hannah, still not finished.

2009-01-12T19:23:00.000-08:00

I haven't worked on this for about a week but here's tonights progress.

2009-01-04T20:13:00.000-08:00

Here's todays progress on Hannah, still a long ways to go.

2009-01-03T18:39:00.000-08:00

I started working on the background today.

2009-01-01T16:59:00.000-08:00

I made a little more progress on Hannah before calling it a day. I can see that I need to tweak her eyes some, I'll do that next and then start on the background.

2009-01-01T12:47:00.001-08:00

I'm using a sanded surface paper for this portrait, it's literally like a piece of sandpaper. For this step I've used a cream colored pencil to blend the under painting and lock it into the sanded surface. As you can see I've lost many of my darks by doing this and will have to re-establish them in the next step.

2008-12-31T18:26:00.000-08:00

I've been working hard to get the likeness correct for Hannah on this underpainting. I feel like I finally have it close and am now ready to start adding color!

2008-12-29T19:01:00.000-08:00

Here's an update on Hannah, this is HARD!

2008-12-19T19:13:00.000-08:00

I'm beginning a new journey, portraits of my kids! I'm starting with Hannah, our youngest. Here is the photo I'm using and the very rough beginning sketch.

2008-12-14T15:06:00.001-08:00

I'm calling this done, off to the framers tomorrow. Next I plan on doing three portraits, one of each of my kids. I haven't done many portraits so it will be a learning experience!

2008-12-13T18:25:00.001-08:00

Getting close, hope to finish this tomorrow.

2008-12-10T19:09:00.001-08:00

More progress. Tonight I worked on the birds some and added more layers to the background. I still have more to do on the trees and birds.

2008-12-07T22:50:00.001-08:00

Here's todays progress. I need to finish this by next weekend so I can have it framed before Christmas. I have about 16 hours in it so far, going pretty fast. I'm hoping to have it done with 8-10 hours more work.

2008-12-05T20:42:00.000-08:00

I didn't get a chance to work on this over Thanksgiving. Here's my progress after tonight, as you can see still a long ways to go!

Three Chicadees

2008-11-25T20:09:00.000-08:00

I've started a new piece. This one is being done with a different technique. I use a sanded surface paper and start with a watercolor underpainting. Here you can see the first two stages; the first is just the watercolor underpainting, the second has quite a bit of colored pencil on the background. I'm not worried about detail in the trees or birds yet, that will come later.

2008-11-22T13:28:00.000-08:00

Well I'm about ready to call this finished. I'll set it aside for awhile and see if anything jumps out at me to be corrected.

2008-11-19T19:09:00.000-08:00

More work on the plaid, 37 hours total so far. Next I'll finish the underside of the blanket and the foreground. After that I'll go over the whole piece, "tweaking" as necessary.

2008-11-16T20:49:00.001-08:00

The saga of the plaid continues....................

2008-11-15T17:48:00.001-08:00

Here's an update for today. I've worked about 5 hours on the blanket adding complementary colors for the shadows.

2008-11-14T20:26:00.000-08:00

here's todays progress. Penny is just about done, I'll do some tweaking and add whiskers after I finish the blanket and floor. So now it's back to the blanket.......oh boy!

2008-11-13T16:51:00.000-08:00

Here's todays progress, still a long way to go. 20 hours so far.

Penny 11-12-08

2008-11-12T13:04:00.000-08:00

Here's an update on Penny, it's just a partial scan because the whole piece wont fit on my scanner. I tackled those eyes and started an underpainting on Penny with indigo blue. 15 hours in this so far.

Penny 11-4-08

2008-11-04T11:33:00.000-08:00

I brought Penny with me to Illinois for my annual deer hunting trip. I've worked on her a bit, between hunting and naps haha. I have the first layer on the background done. Next I will start on Penny with complementary colors and then tackle those eyes!

Penny 10-27-08

2008-10-28T15:14:00.000-07:00

Here's the first update on Penny. Right now I'm just trying to define the plaid blanket with local color. Once the first layer is complete I'll start in with complementary colors to define the values. I have about 10 hours in this so far, miles and miles to go!

Penny

2008-10-26T15:53:00.000-07:00

I started a comission for a portrait of a dachsund. To say the least this one will be a challenge! The customer sent me a photo of a very old dog and asked me to use this picture as a reference but make Penny appear younger and remove her cataracts. I have a few different pictures of Penny to help, I also did a lot of research on the internet and found some other pictures.

Here we go.......................

First blog

2008-10-19T19:08:00.000-07:00

Well I did it, since so many folks are blogging these days I decided to create my own. We'll see how well I keep it up-to-date! This blog will be mostly related to my art work but I'm sure I'll add other stuff from time-to-time.

Stay tuned!