This has taken me longer than I anticipated for two reasons. The first is that I used a snapshot to work from and it is always difficult to find the detail in a quick photograph like this. When I used to paint portrait commissions I would always ask if I could be given a good, clear head and shoulder shot of the sitter so that I could really get down to the details etc. The second, and possibly more important reason for me, is that there is no direct light source, ie. definite lights and shades, so the overall effect is for me a bit bland. Not the sitters, I hasten to say, nor the composition, which I love, just the lighting. When I set up a composition using a model, I will always try to have a defined light source coming from one side, wherever possible. This then produces wonderful lights, tones, shades etc. Have a look at Caravaggio’s work on Google to see what I mean. Having said all this, I am happy with the final result, although I feel I may have overworked the details as a result. Looser brush next time…. The painting is available…
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So Week 3 and nearly done here. I have been messing around with Photoshop trying to get the colours accurate for the purposes of this Blog and my Twitter feed, but am not totally there, unfortunately, so please bear with me. I wish I was better on the computer….. The dress on the left is more turquoise than the blue shown here and I have changed the colour of the girl’s shoes accordingly to compliment the dress. Have also added touches of that turquoise mix into the curtains behind, which help pull the work together. Next week I will tone down the lemon shade of the belt as I think it is too ‘in your face’ at the moment. I have added the same turquoise touches and some of the lilac from the chairs into the girl on the right’s white dress to make it stand out a bit more from the chairs and background white. Have also added in a touch of yellow ochre from the blind to the white walls again to show subtle (hopefully!) differences between chairs, lilac chairs and white dress. I still feel the lilac chairs are competing a bit too much with the figures,…
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Getting somewhere this week, as was not sure I could pull it off last week. A handy tip I pass on, for what it is worth, is about perspective. If you feel you are struggling with this, or just feel something is not right, either hold the painting upside down, or hold it up to a mirror. You will straightaway see where you are going wrong. I think the eye gets too used to what it is seeing and can’t see the errors, whereas we all know the mirror can’t lie… At the life class I run locally, I sometimes suggest a student holds a small mirror to their shoulder so they can see their painting and the model at the same time. They will then (hopefully!) see immediately where they are going wrong. Interesting eh? For some reason, I have a horror or browns and greens in my paintings, and am not sure why. Maybe it is because I am a Piscean water sign and I always lean to the blues, purples and lights, I don’t know. So with the floor in this painting, I know I have to have it dark to contrast with the lilac chairs, but…
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