Hauled out the T-square today to check the lines of the woodwork and the painting frames. Several lines were wonky, but they're fixed now.
Meanwhile: One of the gloriously gaudiest sunsets ever:
Had a decent work session this morning. I'm pleased with the way the legs and feet look.
Been busy lately, but I did manage to sneak in some time at the easel here and there.
Above: glazed the parquet floor. Changed the woodwork behind the guard to a warm white.
Added some woodwork. Looks wonky.
Still dithering with the color.
And, I improved the faces on three of the America series:
Just another of numerous sessions working on the elusive color.
Since I had warmed up on the painting of the two women, I decided to plow ahead on another area that frightened me; the wainscoting that I'd previously made a neutral grey. The grey bothered me, as it seemed to call attention to itself. I needed something more in harmony with the rest of the surroundings.
But the problem comes with mixing enough of the color to cover the canvas from left to right, and since I mix color on a hard surface with a brush, it gets tricky. There's never enough paint, so I have to mix a new batch, and then another. Also: the brush marks in an area like this need to be invisible.
I think it's okay, though. And the color is right. It's not fighting for attention now. (The darkness on the right is just a cast shadow on the painting.)
Standing Room, work in progress (click on image for larger view)
I've been avoiding the sheer blouse on the mom; while I can handle the volume of the fabric and the way gentle folds go in and out, adding in the tiny floral pattern was just too much for my brain to handle. But this morning I decided to face my fears. It looks fine, though I think a little more work on the pattern will do it.
I'm hoping this will be a productive week.
Started with the above. I felt the coat on the woman on the right was too dark, so I lightened up the details, but now I can see I went too far. Some attempts at getting the color and shape of the floor shadows went better.
Moved on to:
Mostly worked on the painting frame on the left. Those greyish areas really need to lighten up.
More woodwork and frame.
I'm trying to knock back those dark edge lines on the floor. Some success today with that and the guard's face.
This took a long time to smooth out today, but I think it still needs to go lighter overall. At least the spotlighting is working well.
Working from left to right, the next figure is wearing a black sweater, but it needed some definition. And then the woman with the brown hair needed the same, using a similar color palette. So I worked on them both. Now on to something else.
Sometimes...There's just something about a small area of a scene that excites me enough to work on a painting even though I don't feel like it. Such is the case with the blue shirt on the man on the left. I love the way the overhead light hits the shoulders; I love the deep blue-violet shadow areas. So I picked up on this one today even though it should have been off the easel and drying in a corner of the studio.
It's Back To Work Monday, and I managed to talk myself into doing some real work, instead of lying around feeling unmotivated.
I spent a little time yesterday on the frame of the large war painting. Next will be those pesky floor boards, and some subtle gradations on the face.
My art supply order just showed up, a day early!
