Faces

The beautifully painted faces of the people in yesterday's show are on my mind today as I work on Rita From The Coffee Shop. We were never taught how to carefully model a painted face in art school; ours was a more painterly approach, with flatter color, visible brush strokes, and an emotional component. Also, in modern times, we use artificial, not natural lighting on our models.

I've been struggling with all of this, this morning as I work on Rita; also the texture of the canvas bothers me in the areas around the eyes, where I need definitive lines. The bumpiness of the canvas fights against that.

Rita From The Coffee Shop, © 2017, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

And the clouds look like blobby patches of color to me, not integrated yet. More finessing to do. At least the resemblance is beginning to work.

In contrast, check out the facial modeling of this little beauty: