Tuesday, July 03, 2007

daily painting practice - Woman with flowers

I started this one with softer washes, almost like watercolor, to try and capture the soft feel of the subject early in the painting process.
Then I started with thicker paint. I like to follow the form of the face with my brush strokes when I am underpainting. It helps me visualize how the light reveals the planes of the face. Then occasionally I just swipe a larger brush stroke across an area to blend tones or define a plane better. It is a strange process... starting loose, getting tight, swipe/blend to stays loose, then pick out highlights and darks to tighten up. On and on I go...
click on picture to enlarge the image

Woman with Flowers - Study
8"x10"
oil on masonite

This is a color study for a larger painting I am about to start. I left this one rather rough because I just wanted to work out some of the composition and color challenges. I think a darker background with a cooler color will help make her stand out better. All in all it was a good painting exercise.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is beautiful. I especially the scarf on her head and how you handled the hands.

Have a great 4th of July!

Anonymous said...

Like. 'I especially like the scarf'. Sorry, I'm at an internet cafe and I'm trying to rush.