Overpainting.

Painted over my underpainting from the other night. One thing I can say for certain is the painting went a lot faster with the aid of an underpainting. However I feel it's almost overworked. I over-painted. (Rim shot.) There was a freshness in the underpainting that I think has disappeared in the final. Next time I'll slow down some and start with thinner glazes to preserve my preliminary work.

Oh well. What's done is done, and it's time to move on to the next one.

Oil on canvas board. About an hour.

Graci

I had read that Norman Rockwell often did under paintings in mars violet, so I picked me up a tube of the stuff and thought I'd try it out. Used the wipe out method for the highlights. I'm trying to introduce more randomness and texture to my work. So far I'm liking the feel.

Oil on canvas board. 2 hours.

The last two projects I tackled with Painter were kind of cutesy - and there's nothing wrong with that - but I thought I'd try something a little more realistic this time around. I was still playing with the mixing palette function, but this time I restricted myself to the two colors (Painter's approximation of yellow ochre and alizarin's crimson) plus black and white. I have mixed feelings about it overall.

I know that only a poor craftsman blames his tools, but up until recently I was running two monitors on my computer. It was nice. I could have Photoshop or Painter open on the right and have whatever reference I was using on the left. True, I could have both open on the same monitor, but then the two things I want to look at are fighting for priority on the already limited real estate. I've been spoiled by dual monitors for about 8 years now. I just can't make the transition back in a manner of weeks. Sigh.

So, my problem with this was constantly having to switch back and forth. It's so inconvenient. It would be like having to turn around to look at a model then back again to look at your drawing. I feel it's a bit more on the choppy side because of the disconnect in my chain of information. Outside of that I think the colors are kind of drab, but at least they all work well together - though I would hope so since they're all related thanks to the limiting of the palette. I think it could stand to be a little more towards the high-key range of things, but I'll live. I love the hands though. I was worried they'd lose some of their charm when I tried to "paint" them, but I think I pulled it off well. And I think they're my favorite part of the image. Also I'm realy liking the pastel tools I've been playing with. I've always wanted to play with pastels (since it's more akin to drawing with a painting flair) but I've never been able to bring myself to actually sit down with some and try.

Anywho. It is what it is and for what it is I'd say it's done. Next time I think something with a little bit more color is in order.

Painter XI. 2 hours.

Experiment No. 2593

A friend of mine did a doodle of a kid in a bath and sent it to me. There was something wonderfully naive about it that inspired me to branch out a little. I did this sketch in my faithful moleskine and kind of went about my business. Though, after I did Run, Fat Girl, Run (for which this picture served as a stylistic inspiration) I figured I would scan it and continue my exploration of Painter.

This time I set out to play more with the color mixing feature. I've been experimenting with a limited palette of yellow ochre, alizarin crimson, mars black, and white (more on that next time) and I wanted to know if Painter was smart enough to effectively mimic the results. Not quite, as it turns out. For the colors used in the rendering of the flesh things were pretty consistent, but the weird green I've been getting from yellow ochre and mars black was no where to be seen. All things considered I'm pleased with it's versatility. I had to give in when it came to the tub and the water though. There's just no way to get a blue from yellow, red, black, and white. Obviously.

Other than that, I think I lost some of the whimsical character from the sketch after scanning it into Painter. Originally she looked more like a kid in a bath, which was the point, but now that I'm talking about it that seems weird. But I digress, I think it's pretty solid. Things are coming along fairly well I think. I'm definitely willing to explore this direction for a while. Until next time! Thanks for looking.