New Member from Canada

[Jason de Graaf]

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

[Paul Foxton]

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.

[Janet Kimantas]

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

[Claudemir Bonfim]

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

[Mary Sparrow]

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

[Garth Herrick]

Originally Posted by Paul Foxton

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.

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

[Richard Monro]

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.

[Joy Thomas]

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

[Jason de Graaf]

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!

[Claudemir Bonfim]

Originally Posted by Jason de Graaf

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.

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 .