Alfred Hitchcock Presents

I'm working on a miniature portrait on bamboo tile 3/4" wide by 1.5" long.  After I'm done, I'll hand this over to my better half and he will make a handwoven chainmaille necklace for it. You can see more of Dave's Chainmaille Necklaces at My Good Babushka. Jewelry, Art. Needlework.

Miniature Painting of Hunter S. Thompson

Miniature hand painted portrait of Hunter S. Thomspon, American journalist (July 18, 1937 – February 20, 2005) on gold colored cameo. You can put this on your own necklace chain, or order this with one of our chainmaille necklaces and we will gladly put that together for you. The painting is 1.75" x 1.25". The cameo is 2" x 1.5".  The finished piece is shown below.

 It's available Here at My Good Babushka

Groucho Marx Miniature Portrait on Plaster Cameo

Who is it going to be? I guess you already know if you read the title of this post. It's Groucho!

This is a miniature portrait painting on a plaster cameo 1.23" x 2".

You can read more about the finished piece Here at My Good Babushka!

Hannibal Lecter Miniature Portrait on Plaster Cameo

I like to paint miniature portraits. Here is an example of one, Hannibal Lecter. He's always popular. This cameo is 1.25" across and 2" long. I really go through the liner brushes doing these, but they are kind of fun.

Here is the finished work as it looks listed in my Etsy store. You can read more about it, or buy it Here at My Good Babushka.

More Miniature Painting

I moved to a different miniature here, Dr. Lecter, but you can see I had a dark sketch, then I put highlights on, usually white and a little ocher or a touch of crimson, so it is not plain white.
After that, it is a bit of a free for all. I just add little bits of color as they appear to me. This painting seemed to have a lot of warm colors, so I put in warm colors and then moderated them with cooler shadows. I try to get all the features in the right place, which sometimes takes more than one try. Sometimes I'll move the eyes up and down a few times before they finally land in the right place. The last thing you do is put the excellent little shines in the eyes, and on the metal cage across the mouth- voila.

How I Paint Miniature Portraits

First, I paint the whole cameo with one soft background color. It hardly matters which color, usually a goldish, or faintly greenish, or mauvish. The portrait usually takes up the majority of the cameo anyway. The background color helps seal the plaster, so it doesn't keep absorbing the paint as I paint.

You can see two of my detail brushes here. Pretty small, and they get used up quickly. I'm always having to buy brushes, I'm tough on them.

Then I usually do a sketch in dark colors, hunter green, burnt umber, and maybe a little black.