My unhappiness with the white shirt led me to a paint session in which I hoped to correct it. But I'm still not sure it's believable. Maybe once I get the purse and its strap painted it'll look more realistic.
Meanwhile... I thought I had a couple more sessions worth of work to go on this one, but now I think it's finished:
Every time I finish up at the easel and look for my phone camera, I'm surprised at how much there is left to do on the painting. I thought I had the suit finished here, but in the strong natural light of day it appears not.
I worked so hard on the face today, but when I took a step back, it looked all wrong. I ended up using a big soft brush to smear the paint around and it actually looks better now.
Today I tried to hit the mark on the "white" woodwork in the painting; really though a mix of Viridian, Yellow Ochre, Cad Red Deep, Van Dyke Brown, and Cool White. Some areas still need adjustment— lighter or darker or greener, that sort of thing. I also dabbed a bit here and there on the floor.
Since the demise of Dreamweaver, I've been forced to hand code any changes to my website, and that is not an easy thing to do. Lately I've been adding a few lines of code to my site, but I'm having to do each single page, one at a time. Working alphabetically, I'm only in the "h" pages.
Meanwhile, I had a low energy day and all I got done was the coat on the lady on the right, and it looks like I'll have to go over those same areas again once the paint dries.
Bah.
The only thing I felt like painting today was the planks on the museum floor. And a few shadows. I wonder how much detail to put into the planks; surely they need some woodgrain, but how much? Then I remembered a long ago rip to the Rijksmuseum (or maybe the Louvre?), and my astonished discovery that Vermeer didn't labor over the floor tiles, he pretty much let the very wet paint drip down to create the illusion of marble.
This will be so much more believable when I get the shadows painted under the figures. They'll look grounded then. The guy on the left looks like he's floating, or cut out and pasted on.
I might not get any further with painting today, but here's this morning's work.
Why don't I believe that white shirt?
All work was on the face today.
Another round of paint for this one. It will pull together soon, but first I have to blend the transitions from light to dark.
Just another day. Worked on the two figures that needed to be brought back.
I love the way the light falls on the man's shirt, but I have to soften those folds. And next time I want to restore the woman's crutches on the right.
Three-day weekends always mess me up; on the third day (Monday) I feel like I'm not supposed to be working. But I'm pushing through today, anyway. I need the therapy of painting— the news is painful enough to kill creativity.
...Says one of my artist friends. And he's correct! I must be mad for thinking this will go well... Still, at this point in time I'm having fun with it.
Some pigments take a long time to dry, and that is one of the reasons it takes me forever to finish a painting.
Such was the case this morning when I decided to work on this piece, assuming the black areas were dry. Surprise! Instant smearing. So I've had to back off on places I'd wanted to paint and had to concentrate on others.
I think the background wall will be okay.
Speaking of walls, this one will take a while as it's going to need multiple layers... but here's yesterday's work.
Yesterday I worked on both the floor— the slats need more woodgrain, and some definition around their edges— and the battle painting while listening to the finale of The Umbrella Academy. Now we wait for the big snowfall to arrive. Momentarily.
Debated whether or not to add another layer to the background wall, but it looks pretty nice as it is. It has the subtle mix of colors that I envisioned originally, and the presence of a few whispery brushstrokes doesn't detract. And I don't want to mess with the soft glow around the painting on the wall.
Today's work:
A Street In Old Town, work in progress (click on image for larger view)
I shortened the menu case. It seemed over sized, but now the scale is better in relation to the two figures.
Worked on three pieces today, and also enjoyed a long FaceTime visit with an old artist friend. So, a good day.
No background disasters, thank goodness. Then on to:
And:
At last I've got the owl in place. There are so many other design elements that need to go into this painting, but I did get the owl done. I'm enjoying doing the work on this, though it's difficult.
Today I brushed some magenta all over the table area in an attempt to bring it in line with the strong flower color. I'm considering it an under layer. I'm not sure where to go with it next; I think the woodgrain looks amateurish so I've got to resolve it somehow.
I keep finding tiny areas that need attention. Straight window lines need to be sharpened; vague, shadowy areas need to be softened; the lights above the window frame need to be made believable. But I did alright today, mostly on the left side. It will come together soon.
On Monday, I decided to bite the bullet and do the background. It took a solid hour and a half, standing on my feet the whole time. Why? Because of the subtle gradations on the wall from light to dark in the upper corners to soft glowy yellowish spotlighting on and around the paintings. Things like this are actually painful to do in every sense of the word; you want to take a break but you can't because of the need to marry two areas together before the paint starts to set up.
I've been watching it dry over the last couple of days and hope, hope, hope that when it does it will look correct and I won't have to do the whole thing over again.
I'm pleased with the way the work went on this one today; I put a tinted glaze over the parquet floor to help bring all the slats together and handled all of the hallway details on the right side. Looks like it's working.
Two backgrounds; let's see what they look like once they're dry.
Work time is going to be chopped up this week with various appointments and social get-togethers, so I'm worried about getting the back wall of Standing Room painted. I need a block of time with no responsibilities nagging at me (like making dinner, getting the wash done) so I can focus without distraction. Because I can't move forward on those figures until the background is done.
All I've been able to get to today is Elbo Room. And just some foreground details and the trim on the top of the building.
