Working Through The List

The last time I wrote about the commissioned piece, I was frustrated by how long it was taking for the background to dry. On top of that, I had realized that it was the wrong color anyway, too yellow, not as pale blue as it needed to be to match the photo. So this morning i got back to it; worked on that blue area on the extreme left, some of the hand and fingernails, and then the background wall. It turned out that a simple mixture of Cobalt Blue (a hard color to use with success, usually) and Titanium White made the perfect hue.

  The Hand Of The Artist, © 2018, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

The aim of this particular commission is to match the reference photo as closely as possible, which is why I'm being so fussy about the color. The wall does get more yellowish on the left side above and below the raised pinky finger, but I had to leave off attempting to blend that spot as there was a good chance of smearing everything. I need to remember to use the Mahl stick!

Here are two more— I painted the Vermeer last night, and tried to work on the likeness for Jeff a little while ago, with varying measures of success:

  Study After A Maid Asleep, (Johannes Vermeer), © 2018, work in progress 

Eddie and Jeff, America Series, © 2018, work in progress (click on image for larger view)