Category Archives: painting technique

I Painted Two Men in Deep Conversation at Epoch

August 28, 2009 – 12:42 pm

The tattooed man was there earlier, sitting outside. He had a brief conversation with the baristra, Ben.  The man on the right showed up about fifteen minutes later, and they came inside and sat opposite each other. I could only hear “she blah-blah-blah” running through their conversastion. It is difficult to capture two people who […]

By Lavanna Martin | Also posted in alla prima, art, oil painting, Oil Sketches Live at Coffee Houses, painting, painting live, portrait sketch, portraiture, sketching | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (6)

Detail of the Girl with the French Haircut at Flightpath Coffee

August 14, 2009 – 9:47 am

Would you like to hear a little about technique and decisions that I made as I did this painting? The walls at Flighpath Coffee are sunflower yellow. Why did I not portray this? Well, when I painted the man with dreadlocks the day before, I added in a subdued yellow background, and just hated the […]

By Lavanna Martin | Also posted in alla prima, art, guerrilla artist, guerrilla portraiture, Oil Sketches Live at Coffee Houses, painting live, painting people from life | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (16)

A Second Smattering on Painting Technique

March 21, 2009 – 12:03 pm

The Beginning I was painting at Halcyon Coffee here in Austin on Monday.  The barristra was very interested, and asked me if I did an underpainting.  This made me stop and think about the actual process of the oil sketch.  I said, “well, no, not really”. I fumbled around for an explanation since I am […]

By Lavanna Martin | Also posted in alla prima, art, drawing, figure painting, how to paint in oils, painting, painting people from life, portrait sketch, underpainting | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (3)

A Smattering on Painting Technique and Questions

March 18, 2009 – 1:11 pm

This post was originally one of my first, in a series on technique.  The post, “The Difference Between Drawing and Painting” has had over 1100 views since I posted it.  I’m a slow learner, but I think maybe some of you out there would like to see more of my thoughts on technique.  Please, please […]

By Lavanna Martin | Also posted in alla prima, art, commissioned painting, figure painting, how to paint, painting | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (7)

I Painted People at Epoch Coffee in the KaffeeHaus Style

November 21, 2008 – 11:37 am

I finally stopped whining about the lack of good places to sit to paint in Epoch.  There are only two tables at Epoch Coffee that are located at a natural light source.  At every other table, I am staring into the store-front glass – which causes terrible problems when judging colors – well, you just […]

By Lavanna Martin | Also posted in alla prima, art, figure painting, oil painting, painting, portrait sketch | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (4)

I Painted This Portrait Vignette at Epoch Coffee

November 11, 2008 – 6:55 pm

Surf’s Up and so is the collar!  He was at Epoch Coffee just long enough for me to paint a quick 6×9 portrait vignette.  When I do these quick vignettes, I always try and tone the canvas a bit to keep the painting from looking too flat.

By Lavanna Martin | Also posted in alla prima, art, painting, portrait sketch, portraiture | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (6)

Painting at the Spider House

October 14, 2008 – 12:41 pm

I painted this while sitting on the decked section of the patio at Spider House Coffee.  I decided to paint at this spot because of the old gliders and the metal-worked lanterns.  Also, it has a nice living room feel which gives the painting a connectedness that you would lose if you were painting people […]

By Lavanna Martin | Also posted in alla prima, art, painting | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (6)

Painting From Life at a Coffee House

October 9, 2008 – 6:11 pm

I painted this beautiful man from life at Spider House Coffee here in Austin, TX.  I loved his dreadlocks.  Painting from life is always tricky, because you don’t know how long people will stay, or stay put!   As an artist,  I never rely on photography, but paint the figure “live”. Here is another painting […]

By Lavanna Martin | Also posted in alla prima, figure painting, painting, portrait sketch, portraiture | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (12)

A Day in the Studio

October 2, 2008 – 3:10 pm

Would you like for me to continue with posts such as the one entitled: “A Smattering about Painting Technique”?  Comments would certainly be appreciated and might motivate me to open this boiling vat…~Lavanna Martin

By Lavanna Martin | Also posted in art, commissioned painting, figure painting, oil painting, painting, underpainting | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (5)