Friday, December 11, 2009

The Sketcher, 16x20


Compared to getting a decent photo of this, the painting was easy. Gloss from the medium made all that dark red and black have a bunch of reflections which, even under polarized light and filters, wouldn't vanish completely. This shot isn't too bad but the actualo painting still works better.

This will be the last limited palette no predraw painting I'll post for a while. I think I'm beginning to proselytize and I have some other ideas I want to try.

A friend and fantastic artist posed for our painting group. She usually works on a ModBook and set herself up to look like that was what she was drawing on. Dramatic lighting and the colors in her hair made this fun to paint. About 2 1/2 hours. This is the first of two paintings of her that day. The ease and speed of painting in this manner made two paintings possible...oops, there I go again.

A Good Day, 12x16




OK. Change of materials but, as in the previous paintings, no pre-drawing. This one was started by lightly blocking in the dark shapes and then honing them to a likeness. The hair, under the chin, dress, and background were gently placed with a Faber-Castell pencil and modified as needed for value and likeness. Somewhere toward the end of the drawing I began adding white for the lights and highlights. About an hour, I think, because I did two that day but gave away the second. I like the simplicity of materials and technique that encourages looking at shapes rather than line.