New Member from Canada
 

Hey,

Just thought I'd join and share with fellow painters. I'm quite new to the business side of painting, and selling. I hope I will learn more and I look forward to shoptalk here.

Check out some of my work if you can...
http://jasondegraaf.blogspot.com

Hi Jason,

Allow me to be the first to welcome you, I'm a new kid on the block too.

You have some amazing work on your site. For me, the 'hands' painting is particularly impressive.

I like this quote from your bio: "my goal is not to reproduce or document faithfully what I see 100%, but also to create the illusion of depth and a sense of presence not found in photographs." You've certainly got that in my humble opinion.

Hello, fellow-countryman. Very impressive work on your site. Looking forward to seeing more. Janet

Hi Jason and Welcome!
Very nice work! It is good to see someone working in acrylics.

Hi Jason, I enjoyed your site so much! Welcome.

Welcome Jason,

What a fascinating and wonderful body of paintings. I'm very impressed with your unimpeachable technique and razor precise draftsmanship. You are imparting a heightened definition of form and physics to the viewer. I have not seen acrylics handled with your high level of mastery before. Since most of us here are trying to master oils, it will be interesting to have your input and insight regarding portraiture and painting. Do you feel acrylics give you certain advantages? They certainly can be more spontaneous. Perhaps you could contribute a portrait demonstration here so we can get an insight and further appreciation to your process.

I look forward to your contributions here.

Garth

Welcome Jason,
There are just a few of us acrylic artists on the forum, so double welcome. You have done some incredible work. I love your "Hands".
How are you getting such smooth skin tones and transitions? That is hard to pull off in acrylic because of the fast drying times.

Welcome aboard Jason,

I visited your website and liked the portrait best (surprise,surprise!) then I noticed the links to other artists..(mentors? friends? heros?). I also noticed that all were men (tsk, tsk)...so I'm here to volunteer my site as the woman/link on your list...feel free really!! I'm happy to be of assistance!

Seriously, you will like this place, everyone is warm, friendly and most importantly... knowledgeable. I've only been on this forum for a couple of weeks and it's changed my life. That's because I no longer have time to sleep or watch TV...I may need to work on that actually.

Joy Thomas
www.portraitartist.com/thomas

Thanks for the warm welcome
 

Thanks for extending such a warm welcome to me.

Joy, those links were just ones I thought of off the top of my head. There are many women painters I admire but who don't have websites to link to.

As you may have noticed I'm not a strict portrait painter, I love painting people but mainly I do it for myself since galleries are apprehensive of showing portraiture work, especially from unestablished painters like myself. And since I'm trying to establish myself in the gallery world, lately I've been concentrating on landscapes more.

I've had someone ask me to quote them a price for a painting of his family, but I quoted too high for him. I'm a little unsure of what a good baseline price is for portrait paintings based on size and the number of figures, etc.

As for working in acrylics...well I just find I can get the effects I want with that medium, so I don't necessarily find it an advantage or disadvantage but I have yet to try painting in oils so I really can't compare. I have a friend, also a painter, who's trying to cinvince me to switch to oils, he thinks my work would improve but I'm not so sure. I like the minimal clean up and lack of odour from acrylics. Basically I'm just comfortable with acrylics because it's what I know.

Thanks again and I look forward to hearing what everyone here thinks and seeing more great portraiture!

I tried Acrylics in the past, but they didn't work the way I wanted. Morgan Weistling made some works in Acrylics long ago, now he only works in Oils... I think you're going to have a good experience trying this medium. The guys I know who switched to oils, never switched back to the acrylics again :) .

Hi Jason,

Welcome! I'm hoping you'll enjoy exchanging ideas here. This forum has been so informative for me, and I've met so many supremely talented, dedicated, and generous artists since I joined last year.

I really enjoyed seeing the work on your website. It looks like you have a lot of scientific curiosity that moves you emotionally, and the way you express it in your paintings intrigues me. If you decide to try oils, you'll get a lot of help (if you want it), but as far as acrylics go, I know there are people on this site who would love to see and hear how you handle problems like drying time, blending, etc. In fact, one of my students paints only in acrylics, and she spends what seems like a tremendous amount of time re-mixing colors that have dried on her palette, so I'd love to know some tips on the best way to retard drying time.

Alex

P.S. You're welcome to link me, too!

I checked out Morgan Weistling's site...Very amazing draughtsmanship. I'm really impressed by how he can paint straight onto a canvas and start with painting an eye first and work his way out......completely antithetical to what I've been taught. I'm all about the planning (probably because I'm not as confident as he is).

You've have some really nice work too Alexandra. In acrylics the only time I may use a retarder is to paint a wide area of colour where there is a gradation like a sky. Having a mixed colour dry on your palette is a drag now that you mention it...I don't mix together a lot of colours though so it's not so hard to mix up more of the same. On some of those paintings on my site, for instance "Tim", I wanted to have a really flat colour for the background so I mixed the colour I wanted in one of those film containers so I could always have that same exact colour when needed.

oooo - nice work. I especially like the balls and fruit being dropped into water.

Welcome Jason.

Hi Jason,
What a pleasure to view your work. Such vivid color and jaw dropping realism. Of course your portrait work is splendid as well. So glad you dropped in here to share your talents and techniques and hope you will stick around. True, most here are oil painters, but they even welcome the odd balls like me with open arms. You'll find that our new member Joy lives up to her name - her posts are really a joy to read!

Holy cow Heidi....I was perusing your site and looking at your demos, very impressive. So I know you've been asked this a millions times but how many hours does it take you to do a life sized bust?

Thanks Jason,
Like painting, it all depends on the level of detail, type of clay I am working in, and whether it is a commission or not. I can complete the modeling of a ceramic bust from a live model that is not a commission in about 20 hours. Average time for a commissioned bust is about 150 hours. Sometimes there is the exception when you have a very particular customer. I have a bust in progress now that I started 6 months ago and thought it was done a couple of times, but the customer keeps sending more and more changes, even after he has approved it twice already for final skin detailing (which takes about a week on an FX bust). Very frustrating and so far have over 1000 hours into that one. Lost track. I suppose the down side of doing commission work is that it seems to mean you will work unlimited hours on a piece until the customer is satisfied.

Jason--
Hi and welcome! Really enjoyed looking at the work on your website. Especially liked the landscapes (skys!) and water ones.

When I joined the forum in 2003, I was working in acrylics... some of my old acrylic stuff is around here on the forum. . . but I've removed it from my website. . . Took me about six months to try the oils and I haven't looked back. I don't find there's any more clean-up with the oils... they're fresh longer on your palette and more forgiving to your brushes if you don't clean up immediately :bewildere . . . Not saying you should switch, if you're happy with your results. The crispness of the acrylics may be perfectly compatible with your style. . .

Hi Jason, and welcome. I've nosed around your site also. At first I had no idea that they were balls, or oranges, or anything dropping into water. I just loved the design, and the excitement they generated. Took me awhile to figure out the reality! :sunnysmil

Jean