Again, my sincere apologies that there is no image with this week’s Blog; a problem again with the new website being in transition. I am SO excited about the new site and am impatient to see it up and running.
This piece ‘Liberation’ is about new beginnings for this woman, I think. Off comes the bra and into a new life for her, a strong and confident woman – does anyone else see this?! Would welcome any feedback.
I have lost count of the times I have changed the background and flooring in this piece. I was determined not to use brown – why do I have a horror of that colour? – and tried various shades of blues, all of which just took over the picture too much. In the end I decided to go for black to show up and compliment the legs more. I mixed Ultramarine (Michael Harding paints are AMAZINGLY pure, so you use less of them) and Burnt Umber to get the desired shade. I find using just black paint is too matt, too deadening. By mixing these two colours I will be able to vary the depths of tone as I go along.
I had painted the floor cream to the left of the piece and a more muted reddish grey to the right of the legs as this is how the photograph is; but it just looked a mess – too busy. So I went with my artistic side of my brain and made the floor all a cream colour and brighter than in the photo. I will add different shades in next week when the paint is dry.
The bra has proved a complete nightmare as I used two different photos not realising the light source was coming from different sides for each photo, so have battled every step of the way. Why do I always make it so hard for myself?
Next week the detail and hopefully finished work. Lace on the bra will be fun and more glazing on the flesh of the legs.
A tip: I sometimes turn the painting upside down and immediately see my mistakes. Not too sure why this works, but it does, believe me. Looking at the work in a mirror works as well.
If you would like to see more of my work, have a look at my website:
www.michewatkins.com
FaceBook: Miche Artist
Twitter: @MicheWatkins
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