"Sun kissed" portrait

Very often my biggest problem is choosing the subject to paint. especially if it is oil and on canvas - for some reason oil on canvas feels so much more serious. In fact acrylic is often a more durable medium.

So, one day I was browsing through Facebook, just like we all do, and I saw this photo of my friend. Oh, my- what an amazing photo! With her permission I am posting the portrait painting of her based on that photo. I know she is not a fan of yellow, but for some reason, yellow felt like the right color for it:)

Oil painting time lapse portrait

My laptop is not doing so well lately and I have been using my phone to check the reference photo when painting, which is not ideal- the screen is tiny and I need to keep unlocking the phone all the time.

But then I decided to attempt a time lapse / speed painting video:

Here is the finished painting. SOLD.

The former president

I had this painting in mind for a while (read a couple of years), but it never seemed a good time or good reason.

Yesterday I wanted to start a portrait for my cousin, but could not find the reference photos, they are somewhere in limbo between the new and old phone. So I decided that it was time to do a portrait of the former president of Latvia, Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga. She was elected President of Latvia in 1999 and re-elected in 2003 for the second term. An amazing woman!

She is wearing a national costume in the portrait.

Time lakpse YouTube video accessible here: https://youtu.be/5hwlzUaxATA

3 Ways of starting a portrait painting

I have noticed I have 3 ways of starting the painting:

1. With a sketch 
2. With sketch + under painting
3. „Blind” painting

With a sketch-  I would start with a detailed sketch (making sure all sizing is correct and in place before I start) and put the paint directly on unpainted canvas. For me this works if its a small painting and I don't want to spend time waiting for under painting to dry. You can see the you tube video on the post Painting A little girl or Inspired by Game of Thrones. 

With a sketch + under painting - I have noticed that I like to do under painting for bigger portraits. This I usually do in acrylic as it dry much faster than oil under painting. I like to choose burnt umber or burnt orange for under painting as it gives warmth to the portrait. Sometimes green or paynes grey is good too to bring out the pink and orange top tones. Under painting also prevents the blank canvas from showing if the canvas is not fully covered. It also gives you an opportunity to establish the darks and lights early. Usually I use this this technique for commission work. I have posted an under painting on you tube for the portrait seen in previous post. 

,,Blind” painting - I just call it that way. Not sure if there is a proper term for it. It simply means that I paint directly on canvas - starting with vauge shapes and adjusting as I paint. I love the creative process of it, but it is much harder to get likelines of the person. I guess it takes practice and eventually one gets to know where to look and what features to enhance to achieve liveliness. If I work on a commission piece its very unlikely that I would use this technique as in many cases it would take longer to fix the mistakes than doing the detail sketch in the beginning.   Positive- it gives more room to play around and thus can make more interesting art piece.

„Blind” painting technique used on this portrait

Oil portrait of girls

I can finally reveal this portrait of my sisters girls. I painted it for our parents as a Xmas gift. Although it was posted from South Africa to Europe on 14th December, may parents received the painting only the beginning of March. I am unsure who to blame- the SA post office or holiday season for the delay, but clearly am happy that the painting reached the target unharmed:)

Here they are:

The process of painting them was somewhat challenging since it is hard to get two kids of that age to look into the camera and pose at the same time. So I had to do some adjustments to the final setup, putting the parts of the different pictures into one. I am quite happy with the result.

Here are some progress photos:

Horse & human portrait

I am happy to announce that another of my paintings is making his owner happy. This was commissioned by Daiga as a birthday gift for a friend. Since then I have received a email from the birthday girl with loads of happy emotions:)

Oil on canvas board, 12x16 inch

Colorful dog portraits in Cape Town

I was contacted by Michelle to do commission paintings of her beautiful dogs. Since I love painting any living being, of course I agreed:)

These are the pictures that were sent to me.

Initially we were thinking of ding the portraits in mild colors using mostly, white, grey, blue, brown. And this is what it looked like:

Although I loved this look and had tremendous fun painting these boys. Michelle sent me this picture and asked if I could make the portraits look like this, since she loves everything of this painting:

I will admit that it was very hard for me to actually change the look of the paintings- as I really loved it. The next challenge was to understand how to get the feel that comes out of this painting. I tried different brushes and palette knife- but it just did not work. And then it stroked me - I had to use my fingers!!! It was a extremely messy stile for me, but extremely fun too:)

And here is the result!

We are very pleased with the result:) Happy ending!

The portraits are acrylic on canvas, 56 x 71cm each.

Cheers, Ritma

what is she thinking?

I had so much fun painting this fresh portrait. Oil on canvas.

I love this portrait a lot! this is none of the unclaimed portraits that was ordered from overseas. It was posted to Europe and sent back as it was not collected from the post office. It cost me some money, since I never took deposit on it. Since then I am always asking for deposit on the commission work.

Portrait artist in Cape Town - whats new

Hi!

Wow, it has been quite a bit of time since my last entry in this blog. I have since taken permanent employment position that implies 8 hours working days and leaves much less "painting time" than I would like to have and what I was used to. My bank account however feels a bit better :P


We also have moved to Milnerton as we bought a property here- loads of work!


I do still paint though:)

kids portraits, Cape Town

Sweet couple portrait

Its been busy! I have not painted much, but here is one of my favorite works so far:)

This is a sweet, young couple that we are friends with. He ordered it as a first wedding anniversary gift for her:).

Art exhibition: Rialto Art Centre, 22 Mill street, Strand, South Africa

17.July to 1.August, 2014

SOLO EXHIBITION:

RITMA GRIZANE

Thank you to all who came in to view my art and support me on the opening night!:)


Special thanks go out to:

• My husband Neil Eybers- who put up with my late night painting and paintings taking over our house:)
• Georine and Ellen for opening Rialto and helping with the set up!
• The winery of Good Hope & Heather Whitman - for providing awesome wine!

Art Lessons in Somerset West

So, it was decided- I will be available for art lessons as off May 5, 2014.

 If You are new to art, come and explore under a supervision of experienced artist and if you are an established artist- come paint with me! :)

The lessons will be held in informal setting, Limited number of students, due to space restrictions.

Studio space- come join me.

Location: Victoria Park, Somerset West, Western Cape, RSA

Times: Please contact for available times, 0611776609

Cost: 

• only R100 per 3 hour lesson during the week
• R150 per 3 hour lesson on weekends.

Bookings essential! Min 2 students. 

The lessons will be addressing following subjects: 

• Form & shading (pencil and acrylic)
• Color wheel and mixing;
• Different materials (glass with water, fabric etc)
• Composition
• Differences between acrylic and oil color
• Still life
• Portraiture

Students are able to choose their preferred subject for the lesson. 

Materials not supplied, please bring your own. Tee and coffee provided. 

Lessons have no age limit, children welcome - to learn with or accompany an adult who is attending the class. (Child-minding service available @R100 per lesson).

We all have different style in art, come and discover Yours!!!

2nd Give away painting went home

This is a very special painting for my amazing friends mom. I have never met her mom, but she definitely must be the most amazing woman to have such an amazing daughter. The whole family is in fact AMAZING - the things they do for others are unbelievable! Unfortunately, mom has been going through some rough time in life and we really hope that this painting will bring some more smiles to her and families life!:) 

Cousins/ grandchildren, oil on canvas

More info on the Give away project: http://ritmart.blogspot.com/2014/03/painting-give-away.html

This painting is bigger than the other give away paintings. My friend send me a few photos of the kids and I just thought that I'm not going to leave any of the children out of the portrait- so had to increase the size of the painting to accommodate their beautiful smiles:) 

The baby was a little challenge, as she was not smiling in the photos- and I had to guess the muscle movements etc. Happy to report, that family confirms the smile to be correct :)

SMILE!!!

Your day will go the way the corners of your mouth turn:)

Painting Give Away!

Dear family, friends, colleagues, readers and all beautiful people!

I would like to give away 3 portrait paintings for free to people who are hurting - with hope that the painting would bring some happiness to their life. 

Details of the painting: 

1. Subject - chosen by receiver (can be arranged as a surprise present);
2. Support- plain canvas, no stretcher bars or frame;
3. Medium - oil paint;
4. Size -28x38cm
5. Pick up, posting - painting to be picked up in Somerset West or posting to be arranged by the beneficiary, if receiver lives outside Cape Town (South Africa). 

Criteria of choosing the receiver- please send me a short story and a reference photo (or a few photos if difficult to choose one) to rgrizane@gmail.com. I hope to choose the paintings-to-be within this week.

What's in it for me? Apart from experience, NOTHING! It's a pure act of kindness. Of course I might get some exposure, but not banking on it. I simply would like to make someones life a bit better. I have no money to give away, but I have my skill, talent, time and ready to invest it. There are way too many people hurting out there. Why do I ask for the story- so people don't abuse the opportunity. 

Please help to find people who would benefit the most from this project and let's share happiness!!!

*The idea is inspired by those dealing with cancer, but is not limited to cancer. Please also share the previous project, that is still on: http://ritmart.blogspot.com/2014/03/a-painting-for-cancer-support.html

The results of this project will be shared here and on social media platforms. 

Demo at La Diva Sallon, Friday 28 Feb

We had another fun demo session at La Diva hair salon in Strand (South Africa) last Friday 28th February, 2014.

Don't get mislead, Lana is a great hairdresser:)

Posing for a portrait demo session :P

Two work stations side by side

Tristan, oil portrait

Feel free to join the fun next Friday! :)

Demo portrait painting Feb, 2014

On Friday 21st February, we had a brilliant demo session. Thank You Svetlana for opening the doors of your hair salon to the art!:)

Creating a portrait

 How is a portrait created:

Voila!

This portrait is painted using acrylic paint.

large nude oil painting

This is the biggest painting I have painted to date. Oil on canvas 120x90cm on boxed canvas. This photo is taken at my house and my hubby said he would not mind to keep it :) However, the painting has gone to its right home since then:)

Baby girl in oil

The local crafts shop had a sale, so I bought some great oil paint and had to try it out!! I wanted to do some for fun and experience. So I checked the photos on my computer and came up with a very cute baby girl from an extended family. Here she is!:)

Baby girl.
Oil on canvas, 30x40cm

Hope You like it!:)