Really Painting

Lisa Libby is a portrait artist whose work focuses on communicating her own emotions and memories through the faces she paints. While she does focus on painting mainly portraits, she experiments with various subjects and styles. No subject is off limits. She is a curious artist who studies other artist painting techniques and styles. Her work is highly inspired by other artists of all genres. Process: Lisa’s process for painting a piece begins with a fast painted outline Once the outline is mapped out on the canvas, Lisa blocks out the darkest shaded areas and lightest points. Her first focus when beginning new work is to lay down the light and shade and then introduces shapes of color. She paints fast for the first layer and then slows down when fine tuning the details. Most of her artwork is finished in 3-5 sessions, taking sometimes 1-week to a month to complete. She likes to allow her work to breath and sometimes leaves it on the easel to observe and tweak as needed. However, once she feels the inspiration fading, she knows it’s time to finish up the details and lay the varnish. She enjoys taking several photos of unfinished work in various lighting and angles to observe how the portrait feels under different light and to archive her process. In the past, the last step of finishing her work was to sign her name in cursive at the bottom left corner of each canvas. However, beginning in 2023 she changed her signature style and method. Current work will sign using only her last name in all capital print on the right side of the canvas. You can recognize Lisa’s older work by the cursive signature on the lower left side of the canvas. Unique Brushstroke: Lisa has a unique brushstroke finishing technique that she uses in all her work. For the last layer of her work, she applies tiny amount of paint on her dry paint brush and goes over the lightest points on the canvas. This leaves almost a crayon affect that highlights the lightest parts of the painting. Another technique you will notice in her work is the layering of various colors building the shapes from larger to smaller so you can still see a peek of the brush strokes under the layers. Early Days: Born in the small town of Rochester, New Hampshire. She grew up across the State border in even smaller town, Lebanon, Maine. Her childhood home was a two-room house attached to her uncle and aunt's home. Her uncles built the house for her and her family.