finally..

I finally manged to block in a figure in four values - which is something I should
have been doing all along! Preliminary sketch was Venetian red, which I then
firmed up with a mixture of dioxazine violet and burnt sienna. Since the drawing
and block-in went well, I was free to squander time playing around with background
colors! This sitting continues next week, so I will get a chance to try to finish
this up. 16" x 14" - 3 hours.

2nd sitting

literal observation

I'm kind of stuck on trying to stay close to literal observation vs. inventing any
visual drama. I was busy trying to get a passable likeness and didn't get much
else going on. 16" x 14" - 3 hours

pretty quick

This is my second time painting into a toned half-dry Liquin 'primer', which is a
completely awesome way to work. I picked a blue background tint, which was a
little jarring. Next time I'll try a more neutral gray. Pretty much the whole painting
was roughed in with a big brush and gloppy paint in two hours, so I had time to
refine her features a bit. Used a simple palette of mostly primaries which helped
speed things up. 16" x 14" - 3 hours

better ground

The drawing isn't very good, but this was an enjoyable painting. I've been
struggling for a while with the oil-primed linen I use. The finish is slick and
non-absorbent so the paint stays pretty wet. I have trouble painting over
the preliminary sketch, and repainting churns things into a muddy mess.

This time, I primed the canvas with blue tinted Liquin a few hours before I painted
and baked it in the sun so it was dry but not fully cured. The Liquin pulls
solvent out of oils, so I can dry-brush and scumble thin underpainting. When I
use nice gloppy paint it finally sticks where I put it and accepts overpainting
nicely - a very big deal! 16" x 14", 3 hours

I had a plan

I wanted to paint in a traditional dark to light sequence, but the model was too
evenly lit so that didn't happen. At least I started from big simple shapes so
the composition is ok. The face is quite tentative in every respect and was
painted with brushes that were too small, so it looks horrifically mottled. Still,
a couple of folks though the likeness wasn't bad. 16" x 14" - 3 hours

20 minute oil-on-paper sketch from the day before.

bigger and faster

Since I only worked the face in any detail, I was able to get this done pretty
easily in 3 hours. Skin tones were mixed from phthalo and ultramarine blue,
burnt sienna, yellow ochre, and alizarin crimson. Phthalo blue makes a nice
cool compliment to alizarin, and I used it to play around with green hues in the
shadows. Also, I stopped fooling around with painting medium blends which
usually end up making the canvas soupy. Instead, I just used linseed oil which
seems to contribute to a more brushy look.  20" x 16"