The 30-Minute Acrylic Portrait: “Smiling Girl in Yellow”

Thanks for joining me on another adventure of painting a quick, loosely-realistic alla prima acrylic portrait, real-time, in a half an hour.

For today’s portrait, I’ll be painting a picture of a young woman ( a still shot image from Ray Comfort’s video interviews ) with a beautiful dark complexion and attractive smile. I like the dark shadows and forms within her face and hair, and I thought it would make for a fantastic little portrait.

This will be an 8 x 10, acrylic on canvas board.

McKaela, still shot image from Ray Comfort/ Living Waters footage used for alla prima acrylic portrait by artist Matt Philleo, 2019, used with permission.

I’ll demonstrate how you can paint a quick portrait study with an aggressive opaque, alla prima technique. The idea is to see what you can accomplish within 30 minutes. It will force you to think quickly, and find out what the most important aspects are that will convey the subject’s likeness and just paint them without fuss.

At the same time, I encourage you to enjoy the process and don’t fret over whether the painting looks good or not. Of course it won’t look as good as a painting you’ve spent hours on! But it’s OK. Just enjoy the process.

Later on, you can always add more layers to the painting and give it a finished look.

Ready to dive in?

Season 1, Episode 3 of the 30-Minute Acrylic Portrait…

After watching it, leave me a comment here below. I really look forward to reading and answering your thoughts and questions. Let me know how I can help and have a blessed and productive day!

Yours for better portraits,

P.S. Did you find this post helpful or encouraging? If so, send it on ahead! Let others know with the share buttons below. I’d love to hear your comments. Thank you so much! Also, do you have a question on acrylic portrait painting you’d like answered? Let me know, and I’d be happy to help!