Thursday, December 13, 2007

Daily Painting Practice - Patience- work in progress day 4

I thought it might be fun if I reviewed the steps in the development of the face with some close up photos. Seeing it in stages on one blog post makes it easier to view the progress than jumping back and forth on previous posts. Don't you think?
When I blocked her in I only had the basic light and dark. Very crude at this point.
Now the likeness is in there and the coloring is mapped in. I started to figure out where the cool places for color and the warms go. One of the most important areas I think is the nose. It has to stand out but not be outlined. Tones and temperature are all you get to work with.
This is where I stopped when I though I was over working the paint. Coming back after a few days helps me go back in and build up the form with fresh eyes and fresh color.
click on the image to enlarge the painting

Patience -
work in progress
oil on canvas

I now am at a point where I start asking, do I have everything going in the right direction? Here's my mental list. Do I have the light working right? Do I have the structure built? Is there a likeness (if it is a portrait). How is my color? Are the cools and warms working correctly? How is the mood? Does it convey the feeling I want it to?

I am happy with it so far. What do you think?

2 comments:

Stacey Peterson said...

I really love where the skin tones are at in the last step here.

I think you're brave for tackling a painting like this - you've got a full portrait and a still life on one canvas, not to mention the lace curtain!! Looks like it's coming along great so far.

Jason Waskey said...

The last picture on the portrait progress is great! I hadn't thought of what Stacey said... that you're painting two pictures on the same canvas. It's true, and that reminded me of this piece by Degas. Good company!