Today I worked on the wood trim again; using tape I tried to ensure straight edges. But some of the wainscoting has a curve to it, so where the curve meets the straight parts I have to soften the transition between colors. It'll take another week or two to get it all right. But the painting does seem to be coming together as a whole. And I was able to put in the foundation for the crutch.
I just couldn't face another day of working on the two big museum paintings— well, actually, I did straighten out the ceiling line on the right side of Messages— so I went back to a few things that have been gathering dust in the studio. Started with this one:
Then went on to
I was so tired of the neutral colors that I added some Violet Grey and mixed it with Brilliant Yellow Pale. Also some Transparent Red Earth.
Followed that with the work I had been thinking about on the mother's blouse:
And smooshed some white on this one, using a paper towel instead of a brush:
Finally, since these used a similar palette, I worked on them both:
I do think the woodwork is going to take forever. But at least I made some strides with it today, while I recuperated from a nasty case of food poisoning overnight.
Concentrating on 2-4 paintings is a chore. I want to have fun! But I do need to get these finished reasonably soon.
More work on the wall trim!
Last Monday i was enthusiastic about the start of a new work week, and then it all evaporated. Today I had the best of intentions, but only worked on two instead of three pieces. Here they are:
Standing Room, work in progress (click on image for larger view)
At least it's something. I think I owe email to everybody I know; will try to get to that next.
I wish I had more to report, but there are so many claims on my time lately. Getting the new computer to connect with the apps I need to run is proceeding, albeit slowly; and every now and then I discover something is missing, like my entire music inventory or all of my Notes. But I did get some paint time in today, and I spent it on the woodwork in the upper right corner.
Every few years—maybe every 4 or 5, actually— my laptop needs to be replaced. And following that ensues about three weeks of utter frustration as I try to reconnect apps, download apps, re-establish websites and their shortcut icons, and deal with all the changes in the interface when the new machine boots up.
So far I have had to visit the Apple Store twice, and there are two more visits planned for the near future.
But slowly, painfully, I've been able to get a few important things running again. The new machine does not want to have anything to do with my printer, so i will have to coax it , but Photos is now working correctly as is the new upgraded version of Photoshop, so there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Yesterday's work:
Tired of working on the same images every week and longing to paint a landscape, I've gone through the archives and came up with a pretty little pastel dawn piece. Here is the start.
Tried to create the illusion of seeing skin and a white tank top through the gauzy fabric on th
e woman on the left. Not quite satisfied yet, but it does look better than it did.
Multiple light sources create shadows that go off into different directions. I also need to work on making the older woman's shirt translucent.
Two of the women in this one are wearing clothing in basically the same deep off-red color, so I worked on them both today. But I think they need some bluish highlights.
I think I've found a workaround solution to the problem of posting images of new work to Blogger. Let's see:
Messages, work in progress
I darkened some places where the light falls off around the arch.
