Chris Beaven

I’m trying to balance control and spontaneity, too much of either and problems arise.

Today I was on the phone and doing some easy details in the background. Short and easy is good to have on some days.

I started working on the hand trying to get it looking somewhat finished when I realized that I need to do a lot of work on the arm also.

It’s easy for me to get caught up in the surface details when painting and I need a reminder to not forget the purpose of what I’m painting.

Today I’m painting the left side of the couch in preparation for the left side of Patrick.

I worked all over the place today. Starting with the couch and wall and ending up all the way on the other side of the canvas.

Tonight I’m painting late and I’m thinking about the feeling of paint peeling on the wood shelf I’m rendering.

I think I’ve finished the stacks of tapes but I’m not 100% sure, I may return to them a bit. They lack energy.

I’ve had quite a big idea change with this painting and I want to see how that will apply with parts of the background I”ve already done.

Maybe one of the hardest things to do is try and copy the spontaneity of a child’s drawing. He/she is a true master unfettered by time.

To quote one of my favorite movies. “I’ve had an apostrophe, lightning has just struck my brain”.

From the beginning I wanted to keep the background loose and it is also nice to paint differently for a while.

In a large and complex oil painting like this it is easy to move around and do something different once in a while.

It’s become extremely apparent to me that a multitude of paint layers is a much more exciting way to render skin.

Entering a state of calm and focus is very important for me before art but today was a challenge to focus.

I finished the shirt this session and has some fun with the beer bottle and blocks of color.

I guess if you look long enough at anything you begin to see much more than you ever thought possible.

I spent an hour on the orange shirt again getting the texture right and toning down the crazy chroma.

I’m excited because I’ve got a good method for color, value and texture on this shirt but it’s going to take a lot longer.

The orange shirt is just a too high chroma so I’m trying to add some texture and bring down the vibrancy a lot, but keep it looking orange.

I’ve been fascinated by a picture I took of Mt Shuksan when traveling there with my family. It has sparked a love for hiking and landscape.

I put another layer of paint on the right shoulder so it can dry in preparation for the next and hopefully last layer in the future.

I finished Patrick’s hair and the shadows cast from it on his right shadow. I still need to fix the value on the other shoulder though.

I spent this whole session painting more hair and trying to get the detail I wanted without going overboard.

I got an early start on painting this morning and after 2 hours I’m almost done with Patrick’s neck.

I started working on the right side of Patrick’s hair. When I finish this I feel his head will be completed but I still have a very long way to go on this painting.

After a wonderful day hiking the mountains around Mt Baker with Pattie and Susan I’m painting later in the day and working on Patrick’s beard.

I’m waiting for the work I did on his neck to dry so I moved to the arm adding another layer of paint.

My work is taking up a lot of time time right now due to a deadline so I just spent the minimum time on painting Patrick today.

Today I worked on Patrick’s chin and some of his neck. The portrait is coming together nicely now and I’m anxious to begin painting his torso.

I started refining some of Patrick’s hair this session with lots of tiny brush strokes.

Wanting to spend a bit less time painting today I worked on the background in preparation for the edges of Patrick’s form.

I’m working on Patrick’s mustache and his cheeks with subtle strokes.

I continue to paint the face in the method I began yesterday and I’m finally sure that the strokes I put on will not be covered in the future.

The process I used to paint part of Patrick’s face today yielded wonderful results and I will be following it’s example for the rest of the painting.

I did some work on Patrick’s blue bandana and the intricate design on it. But I kept it much lighter than the photo,

My schedule is a bit off this week, so I’m painting later at night with not much motivation on Patrick’s arm. I expect to do it over later.

I’m uncertain of my direction with this painting. I continue to work on the face but nothing seems to “click”.

I’m working a bit on the background behind Patrick’s head and I want to keep the background loose while also pushing the head forward.

I come closer and closer to a finished face, yet I’m not convinced that it will turn out the same as my vision.

I have a new idea of how I want to approach skin and the life I want to demonstrate beneath it. I hope it works but it may take a long time to achieve.