Along the Yellow Brick Road III

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Here is my third character portrait from the 1939 classic film The Wizard of Oz.

Jack Haley did such a wonderful job with the role of the Tin Woodman (or Tin Man as I like to call him). Haley, like Ray Bolger who played Scarecrow, started out on the vaudville circuit. He moved into comedy shorts and then to musical feature films. Haley took over the role of the Tin Man from Buddy Ebsen, who had to back out of the part due to his allergic reaction to the silver makeup. 

I was anticipating my own difficulties with Tin Man’s silver color and metallic texture but I actually had quite a lot of fun painting this character. As with the portraits of Dorothy and Scarecrow, I painted Tin Man on an 8"x10" canvas using water soluble oil paints. 

My sketch of Tin Man drawn directly 

to canvas just prior to painting.

With regard to the paints, I did find a drawback to the water-soluble oils while working on this portrait. As soon as I had finished the painting, I wanted to photograph it. I took it outside to a spot where I like the natural lighting, set up all my photographic equipment and the portrait and began to take a couple of photos. Suddenly, it started raining...hard. The character Tin Man doesn’t do so well in the rain and neither do wet water-soluble oils; the paints started running and separating. The painting was literally ruined. I kept my cool, carefully soaked up the water and melting paint with a paper towel and painted it again using what was left of the original as the starting point. In a few hours the painting was restored. That was a hard lesson learned. It should be noted that these paints were still wet when the painting was exposed to the rain. If I had given the paint a chance to dry sufficiently (even by a few days) the rain would not have been an issue. Water-soluble paints become permanent when dry just like regular oil paints.

I’m sure you don’t need a clue to guess the character I plan to paint as the last subject of this series but let’s just say he can probably cough up quite a furball. 

Along the Yellow Brick Road II

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Here is my second character portrait from the 1939 classic film The Wizard of Oz. 

Ray Bolger played the part of Scarecrow so exceptionally. His movements made you believe he was made of nothing more than clothes stuffed with straw. His facial expressions are priceless. This expression is one of my favorites; he looks so bright eyed, full of optimism and excitement and ready for adventure. Scarecrow is probably my favorite of Dorothy’s three companions.

Like my Dorothy portrait, I drew Scarecrow with pencil – freehand – directly onto the 8"x10" canvas. I then finished the painting in water soluble oils. One nice thing about painting Scarecrow on canvas is that I could give his face that canvas-like texture just by using a dry-brush technique in select areas.

The next character I’d like to paint has a big heart.

Along the Yellow Brick Road

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I’ve begun a series of paintings featuring the lead characters from the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz. The first character up is Dorothy, played by actress Judy Garland. 

I drew a pencil sketch of Dorothy directly onto the 8"x10" canvas. I finished the painting using water soluble oils. As I began painting over my line drawing, I noticed some very subtle adjustments that I needed to make. It’s surprising how the slightest detail can so dramatically alter a face (especially the face of a young woman) and can mean the difference between capturing a likeness or missing the mark. 

This is a personal project which grew out of my purchase of four, 8"x10" canvases from Hobby Lobby. They were on sale and (though I typically like to work at larger sizes) I bought them because I’m a sucker for sales. 

Then I thought, “OK now what in the world am I going to do with these?” A series seemed like a nice idea and as I considered a variety of subjects, the Wizard of Oz seemed like the most fun. 

The 1939 production is such a wonderful film with the lead characters brought to life so masterfully by such talented actors as Garland, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley and Bert Lahr — not to mention all of the other fine actors and actresses who helped make this a family favorite that has stood the test of time. I do not believe even modern film producers could have made this movie any better.

I plan, God willing, to paint all four of the lead characters. I am currently working on painting number two. 

“Which character,” you ask? That’s going to be my surprise. But here’s a hint — he’s a fun guy to have hanging around.