Initial sketch on tracing paper to be transferred with graphite to Stonehenge acid free paper.Since the graphite lines are very light I go over them and enhance all the darks with Light Umber. They are then covered with Peach. Finallly a wash of Light Peach over the entire face.She works outdoors a lot and has a beautiful tan so I added a wash of Jasmine. Covered the shadows with a wash of Peach and washed the highlights with Cream. Filled in the pupils with Indigo Blue, be sure not to cover the highlight area. Rimmed the iris with Indigo, washed the iris with Cloud Blue, added a deeper blue to the iris with jagged strokes, another layer of Cloud Blue around the inner iris, building up layers of Periwinkle, grays and blues to add depth. Washes of Peach and yellow ochre were added. Blush pink to warm areas and Dark Brown to shadows. Lips: covered the highlight with White, used Pale Vermillion and Henna to define the dark areas as well as the inside of the mouth. Washed the lips with Light Pink. Added a wash of LIght Peach to entire face.Same procedure as the bride. Light Umber to define the shadows then covered with Peach and a wash of Light Peach over entire face.Deepened the shadows of the eyes with Burnt Sienna. Added Indigo and Cloud Blue to begin the eyes. He has more of a pink skin tone so I washed the face with Deco Pink.Added Burnt Umber to the darker shadows. Cream to cover the highlights and Pink to highlight the cheeks. A layer of Peach then covers the darker areas and Light Peach the rest. Define the eyes with Burnt Umber and black for the lashes. Lips are pale, so I worked mainly with pinks and light peach. Defined the deep shadows of the mouth with Burnt Umber. Determined the highlights for the hair and blocked them in with white. Then blocked in the shadows with Light Umber. Working with blocks of colored rather than individual hairs Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna, Raw Sienna and Burnt Umber were used for the hair.Shadows in the face were balanced with the hair, some deepened others highlighted. More pink/peach was added to the cheeks. Black and Burnt Umber were used to define the darkest darks in the hair. Highlights were added with Cream, Yellow Ochre and White. A view of the work area showing the many photos that comprise a total drawing. Dark brown was added to the hair. A little more warmth was added to the face to balance the darker hair. Shadows were deepened and dark green was added to the background shadow for contrast. Final washes of Light Peach and Cream continue to blend the skin tones and give it a more painterly look. Final Portrait. Simple clothing lines were added and a request for the Wedding Theme, a Sand Dollar was worked into the painting.
WORK IN PROGRESS
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joan l. garcia 
"ANNIVERSARY PORTRAIT" -  A portrait commission to commemorate a beach wedding, using Prismacolor on Stonehenge acid free paper.
Affordable prints of this portrait may be ordered at Fine Art America. CLICK HERE
"ANNA MARIA CITY PIER: Memorial Day" -  A plein air (as in windy) painting session on Anna Maria Island. 5"x7" oil on canvas board
Photo reference to be used in the studio. Wasn't an ideal day to paint. It was so windy that the oils were drying as if I was using acrylic. Painting setup. This small thumb box was great in this windy situation. After a pencil sketch I blocked in the main colors. Sort of a gray day, but I liked the monochromatic effect. May 16 - I finally have gotten back to Anna Maria Island to work on this plein air of the City Pier. I added details and darkened some areas.
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"TAMPA BAY TARPON" 16" x 48" oil on canvas: Tarpon season is underway in the Tampa Bay area.  Recent fishing expeditions to the shipping channel north of Egmont Key found them rolling on the out-going tide.  This painting resulted from a photo I had taken at the Lowry Park Zoo and pinfish my family caught off Anna Maria Island.
June 7 - After preparing the canvas with three layers of white gesso, I mixed the gesso with green acrylic to establish a base background color. I started with a sketch of this school of pin fish.I used a mixture of paynes gray, cobalt blue and burnt umber to paint in the middle color of the pin fish. June 8 - Finished outlining the pinfish with paynes gray and burnt umber thinned with OMS. Photo of the tarpon that inspired this painting. Painted in tarpon with paynes gray/burnt umber thinned with OMS. Under painted the dark areas of his skin. Photo of the layout. June 9 - Added under-painting washes of paynes gray/cobalt blue to establish darks. Glazed layers will result in the luminous shine of his skin. Added shadows with a wash of paynes gray and Liquin. Defined their eyes using lamp black. This established the darkest dark of the painting. June 10 - Added a wash of cerulean blue and Liquin. Then I wanted to base coat the areas that will have the most reflection. This was done with a thick coat of titanium white. My family did some fishing and I was able to photograph this pinfish for accuracy. Corrected the coloring on the pinfish. Added more brown and rose tones. Using burnt umber/cadium red/titanium white in varying hues. Close up of pinfish. June 20 - June 20 - June 20 - June 23 - Still working on the details...I wanted to brighten the colors and deepen the darks. Also added the dark underpainting of the scales along his body with paynes gray, cobalt blue, cerulean blue and titanium white.June25 - Really enjoying adding transparent layers of to create the illumination of the scales and skin. I mix many varying degrees of cerulean blue/paynes gray/lime green/titanium white/burnt umber with Liquin. June 28 - Back to working on the pinfish.June 28 - I'm having a little difficulty getting the luminousity that I want for the pinfish. I've added details and glazed over them first with paynes gray and Liquin, the deepening the shadows with ultra blue. July 3 - Starting to lay in the background. Using Turquoise/Paynes gray/Titanium White I cross-hatched the basic tone in the center of the painting. July 3 - Painted in the central color and began adding the upper layer of the water across the top. This layer will have the water swirls and additional lightening. July 3 - Close up of the tarpon. I added additional lighter scales to his body. July 3 - Background completely blocked in. The lower level of the water is a little darker. I'll continue to add glazes to increase the luminousity. July 7 - Working on the background....I wanted to deepen the base color. Added a glaze of turquoice and cobalt blue with LiquinJuly 7 - Close up of TarponJuly 12 - Working on the details of the pinfish. Added white highlights with titanium white and deepened shadows with a glaze of turquoise and burnt umber. July 12 - Full painting - I photo enhanced it add more contrast. See my blog for more information. July 19 - Added details to the pinfish. Using ultramarine blue and burnt umber with a liner brush I defined their eyes, fins and a few of the identifying marks. July 19 - Again I darkend the lower portion of the painting with a glaze of ultramarine blue. Also enhanced the white reflection on the tarpon. July 21 - Did a lot of work on the pinfish. Refined colors, after looking at reference photos I added more earth tones (raw umber, yellow ochre, burnt umber). July 28 - The main character is finished. I added a heavy applicaiton of the highlights; titanium white, turquoise blue, paynes gray lightend with titanium. July 28 - I was going to wait until the oil had dried thoroughly to add the light rays, but found that since I wanted them very subtle they needed to be applied while the background was still tacky. I went over them many times wiping off as much as adding. Aug. 1 - I love varnishing. It brings out the colors and reveals the depth of the glazes. I added three thin coats of Gamblin varnish with wax added to make the surface slightlyl matt.
Preliminary sketch in graphite.While I blocked in the background before hand the actual painting of the dog was done in one sitting. A better representation of the colors. Also added a black matt which brings out the contrast further.
"BLACK & TAN COCKER SPANIEL" 11"x14"  A commission of a family pet.  The final will be done in watercolor on Strathmore cold press.
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