Just thought I’d pop by and continue my photographic journey through this painting I’m working on. This is day two…
I’m working here on darkening everything to match the crazy dark background. I am refining the colour of the eye and separating it from the shadows there as well. The lips looked ok here but I ruined them by where I am now. I am trying to make these bigger shapes look smaller and more detailed because everyone loves detail..
There is my “inspiration” wall behind the painting. The still life is by Bart Lindstrom who I had the pleasure of attending’s short class at PSOA in 2011. I’m putting in the arms. BIG BIG shapes.
One thing I learned makes paintings look really lovely is when everything is gradated from the lightest point. So here I have darkened the arms on their way down from the head, even though it’s not as clear in person, I’ve exaggerated the effect for aesthetic purposes. Heck yeah.
Slowly painting the hands mysteriously rising from the shadows
Or like, big slabs of colour and value. Whichever…
I am faking it. The nails aren’t red in my reference but I want them to match the lips to create a subtle focal point when you get bored trying to find the flaws in the face. Did I mention that this panel is wicked? It’s super smooth texture makes the paint really really show up.
This is where it’s at so far. The awkward angles are to avoid backlighting and to get it in one frame. This is the largest painting I’ll have done when I finish.
Overall, I am not sure how detailed I’ll get on the hands as I don’t want them to be too distracting (I’m afraid I’ll ruin them.) I am, however, intending to draw all the little dragons on the dress eventually. It’s gonna need layers just due to the nature of the panel. It should look cool. I promise to spend so much time looking at it that I can’t stand it anymore until a few weeks later when I go “oh that came out pretty good”
Ok that’s all you get from me for tonight! Have an awesome week!
K.L. Britton 