Blue Sandals

Blue Sandals

This pose caught my eye right away.    If the beautiful figure were to be leaning too much one way or another, the eye would immediately identify the imbalance and be disturbed by it.   The weight of the upper torso is supported by a straight right arm to the chair, and the remaining weight falls onto the planted foot (yes, complicated with a stiletto).    The figure is the focus, so all the other elements are intentionally subdued and blurred.  Classic but contemporary painting depicting the grace of the human figure.

A Bathing Grace

A Bathing Grace

For centuries in the world of art, there has been endless fascination with the human figure.    Painters have challenged themselves and each other to correctly capture an image that honors the beauty of the body.  Every time I take on a new rendering of a figure, I ask myself, why don't I do this more. The lines, proportions and color of a human being make it - perhaps - the most fascinating of all subjects.  Here is a new painting, done from a high resolution photograph.

Aihlbe with Lace Neckline

Aihlbe with Lace Neckline

Remember Ailhbe, my alabaster white bust?   She set up for a pose again and this time it was a downward angle done in charcoal.   Highlights were done with white conte.  

Of course I improvised on the neckline since the bust ends at the neck.   Between Artist Dan Thompson's workshop and the upcoming Rob Liberace workshop, I know I need to practice the portrait as much as I can.

Ailbhe Profile in Charcoal

Ailbhe in Profile

Model Ailbhe is shown in this drawing in profile.  The light source was directly in front of her, shining straight toward her face.  I used a soft vine charcoal on Strathmore 500 charcoal paper.

After sketching in the overall head and neck, I probably spent an equal amount of time remeasuring and lifting out charcoal with an eraser.   After I finished my major first pass, I colored in the background placing darker values behind the lighter highlights on her head, and lightening the background behind her shadow side.     The squiggles in the background were done with my eraser; I thought it would be a bit more interesting and echo the wave in her hair as well.

I'm debating on whether to add clothing, maybe a scoop neck or a necklace because I'm not all that happy with the neck and shoulders.  I really enjoy translating people from their 3D selves to the 2D surface.  And she is a great model; she never moves a muscle.  :)

Terracotta, Alabaster or Bust

Meet my new model.   I recently found her sitting outside a collector/secondhand shop in Billerica, Massachusettss. I spotted her while eating across the street at Mikey's Roast Beef on Routh 3A. (The Roast Beef part is really a misnomer, because they have the best haddock sandwich you'll ever eat and the bonus it that it is an easy, informal sub shop type atmosphere.)  Anyway, while eating in and staring out the plate glass windows, her head was visible amid a chaotic jumble of other secondhand junk - or should I say - treasure.

Freshly Painted

Twenty-five dollars and a lengthy promotional speech later about what a good deal this was by the shop owner, and we were placing her - in all her heftiness - in the back seat for the ride to her new home.   I have been googling her description as well as the numbers on the bottom of the cast bottom base, but haven't found any information as to an original statue that may have been the inspiration.  Further, I'm not sure what she is made of.  She is very heavy.  The color looks like terracotta, but the fact that she was out in the elements without sustaining chips, or crumbling made me think it was something stronger.   (I know nothing about sculpting and related materials).   The only drawback for my purposes was that she had streaked and irregular coloring from sun exposure.

Ailbhe Back to Mirror - Stage One

Well now she is painted white and I am very happy with how she came out.   The sun streaks are gone and although she isn't a high end bust that can run quite a bit of money, she has nice even coloring and is perfect for my studio use.   She's not from money; she's just a regular gal.

I thought about naming her Terri, but she is probably not terracotta, and has since undergone a change in color.

I thought about Blanche, but she doesn't look like a Blanche to me.  (That name brings to mind Blanche on the Golden Girls).

Alabaster, the translucent gypsum material, made me consider Ali.  In this, the year of exploring my Irish roots, I decided on "Ailbhe," an Irish Gaelic name meaning "white."

I used the academic realist technique to produce an accurate drawing looking down at the bust which was also reflected in the studio mirror.   I started with the paper folding technique that I learned from Dianne Paranelli Miller, but instead of using multiple strips for length and width, I put my own spin on measuring with a single piece of paper.   I repeatedly measured until my light and dark areas were line drawn.  I used a thin mix of tranparent oxide brown and ultramarine blue to fil in all the darks.   With a paper towel, I then worked to wipe out all the light areas until it was accurate again.  I did three subsequent sessions of perfeting the light/dark rendering and still to this point the light areas were "no-paint" zones and the dark areas were transparent washes.

I decided to leave the transparent dark areas thin and dark and mixed up opaque flesh color for the lightest lights which were very cool.   As the planes turned away from the light, I warmed the color - within the lightest value.   The darkest skin values were warm darks and at first probably too dark.   

I've painted the lights again in subsequent painting sessions.   Since I have cool light on her, and wanted to add color, I mixed up cool pink and cool green for her hair.   For the flesh, I used my lightest flesh color (naples yellow, cadmium red and flake white), then warm tones for the darks using warm greens and burnt sienna.

I darkened the background and painted in over the figure on the dark sides so as to lose those edges.  

When I view the photo of this painting as a thumbnail, I feel like I want the left shoulder and its reflection to merge in value.   What does everyone else think?

Ailbhe Back to Mirror - Stage Two

Ailbhe in the Mirror

Figure in the Sunshine



Figure in the Sunlight - Studio Rework from Class Study

 
 




Our Figure in the Landscape class has been as good as I had hoped it would be.   We had a beautiful model who layered on her sunblock and dutifully sat in full sun so that we could observe and record the luminescence of her skin. 









I tried to predict the trajectory of the sun so that some nice shade would overtake the spot I chose to paint from.   Temperatures were rising quickly.   Well I didn't calculate very well I and spent most of the class standing in the sun with a sunlit canvas as well.    At least I could empathize with our poor model who was also melting, fully exposed to the sun too.   Essentially I came out of the class with a study.


Negative Version of Painting

When I got it home I saw several things that I wanted to improve. 
 I also thought that by studying the composition armature, I could improve the flow.   The photos show the sequence of what I did.








Negative, Upsidedown Armature

1) Converted the painting to black and white and then changed it to its negative in Photoshop, then turned it upsidedown. (I was thinking that seeing the painting abstractly with the figure as the darkest element would help see the armature more easily).









Negative, Upsidedown Armature with Spiral  Balancing Lines

 2) The armature seems like spirals so I added extra lines to expand the abstract design with more spirals.



Back to positive image with balancing spirals

 
 
3)  Changed the black and white back to positive state.  I liked how it looked from an abstract (weighting) perspective.     No matter which way I turned the canvas, it looked equally weighted.



4) Next the challenge was to figure out how to incorporate these line elements into my representational composition.    I did it with the landscape (branches and grasses).   




Here is the finished product.   The Naples Yellow grasses were my attempt at balancing the composition and creating pseudo spirals that echo the primary armature.

Cornsilk

                                                                                  





Portrait: Light Hair and Complexion

Olivia

Olivia Stage One

My academic realism portrait class has been challenging my painting vision, skills, technique and most of all, my patience.    The model at class was stunningly beautiful, which added more pressure.   I almost felt like apologizing in advance for the rendition that I felt would surely not measure up to her gorgeous reality.   That reality being her flawless hair, skin, and features.

I think what I found the most difficult was the fairness of our model's hair and complexion.  Contours couldn't be too dark and I worked at implying plane changes with temperature rather than drastic value changes.  The model's skin was so fair that her skin seemed translucsent.  I used Flake White Replacement, a transparent white by Gamblin to build up a glowing pinkish white for her skin in the bright light.    I amended my classwork using a photo after the actual live class session.   I corrected several edges especially in the jaw area and got to a better likeness.


Decaf

Decaf

Figure painting has become my favorite genre.    I am not as advanced as I would like to be, but there is a lot of satisfaction in capturing a human likeness.  

On this day, our model made the suggestion that we use a comfy, overstuffed armchair.  Evidently she had a terrible night, having been in a hospital emergency room with her daughter, and was exhausted.     Her fatigue was evident as she relaxed into the chair, nursing her Dunkin' Donuts coffee. 

At first I painted her glancing off to the left.  I then decided that having her eyes closed better captured the mood.  I used really large brushes for everything except for the face and hands.  It was tempting to fine tune the chair but I resisted.  I tried to make the blue/orange harmony consistent throughout.

Figure Painting - Nude Standing

Nude Model from Back - Standing

This painting was done in two sessions.   The light used had a cool bluish cast to it so the right shoulder and hip were the lightest, coolest tone.   In contrast, the model's complexion was warm so I played up that feature along with red in the hands.   I worked to diminish the edges on the shadowed left leg and shoulder.   I liked the accent of light on the left elbow as it leaned on the pedestal so I added it, trying not to have it be too important.  I' m working on staying loose, so in that respect, I think this painting shows movement in that direction.