Working on the top of the Gaul's head

In my last three sessions, I haven't made significant progress in terms of volume. The forms are so small and complicated, and I have to keep standing back 7 feet or so to make sure that the details I'm painting in at this final stage still make sense. Below is a close-up of the hair on top. It's nearly done. On the left side of the head, you can see how rough the paint and the edges are. They will be smoothed out in this second painting phase once I get there later this week.

Good progress until the power cut out

Up north in cottage country this weekend, I managed to complete the "first painting" stage of the left leg. Without the glare from the window, as seen below, it looks right.

(One bad note: The thick oil-based gesso I applied as a ground marred the smoothness of the painting surface and unfortunately that does matter on small forms. The Achilles tendon gets pinched. It's noticeable from 6 feet away. Up close I can see a vertical "trough" left by the gesso brush. When light hits the trough it breaks up the swatch of skin colour I had laid down for that part of the foot. Ironically, the subject "Patroclus" was Achilles' lover and of course Achilles dies of a wound to his heel...)

I started working on the shorter, right leg when a storm hit us and the power was knocked out for the remainder of the weekend. I didn't have time to smooth out my initial paint layers but fortunately the ball of the right foot is quite wrinkled...

Painting on Easter Weekend

This entry was made from the cottage while working on the Patroclus painting hanging from a chair (spare easel left at home). My good intentions were not realized: I wanted to redraw the feet and hand, restoring the details and proportions that have been lost. Instead I reworked the shoulder and started modelling the back and arm.

Some notes to self:
-- Some charcoal I used to transfer the drawing is still showing through (near left am pit, for example), so I'll need to redo those areas with some calcium carbonate (plaster) mixed into the pigment to mask the charcoal
-- Minor corrections are needed to the shadow on the spine (widen shadow on left shoulder blade).
-- More half tones are needed alongside the shadow on the spine to make the transition from dark to light smoother. Indian Red and Burnt Sienna are proving good for those values.
-- The chroma in the carpet needs to be dulled with grey/green
-- background needs a glaze of burnt sienna to warm it up and darken slightly.
-- hair still needs to be modelled (and it goes further down the left side of the neck than currently shown). Soften the edges into the background.

Inspiration: Lenny's still life

I was inspired today looking at Lenny's still life in progress (second painting phase). He allowed me to take this photo (and unfortunaely, the glare on the canvas takes away from it). Some things I really liked: first, the composition. The darks are kept as a group at the back. And the lights are together in the front, joined by a triangle made up of the 3 primary colours, blue, red, and yellow. It's hard to tell this from the photo, but the sherry glass really stands out, front and center. He accomplished this by a) using a rich chroma for the sherry (actually coloured water because real wine is TOO dark to be translucent in these conditions) b) casting the shadow of the glass on the page and using soft shapes and fuzzy edges to contrast with the hard shapes of the glass itself. Finally, I admired the fact that none of his lines or shapes ever line up and so your eye travels in a pleasant way. To see what I mean, look at the books (not straight) and their top edges--different heights and on angles. Plus the globe offers circular shapes to contrast with the triangles and rectangles. A feast for the eye. And something for me to keep in mind for the future.

And on it goes, little by little (second painting phase)

I'm still working away at small, detailed areas, most recently in the hair that frames the face. I'm finding it more convenient now to tackle the lights and darks in a form simultaneously, dealing with it in one go (say, a wave in the hair). I tried this faster approach today with the hair shape to the left of the eye. It was no good just dealing with the shadow area in isolation; the form just didn't turn the way I expected it do. So I moved up to the lights as well, which made blending easy.



The close up: