Update on Wayne's Portrait

In the last two sessions, I've worked on modelling the legs, arms and hands, so now there is at least some paint everywhere over the figure. But now the clothing, head, chest and background need to catch up in order for the overall lighting on the figure to make sense. Wayne's left arm, for example, is the correct value (if not the right colour), and now the surrounding shirt and shorts need to darken on the right side considerably with a mixture of ultramarine, black, and some burnt umber... Once I get the values everywhere in sync, I'll take the picture in to the school for a critique before going further.

Finished...

It's finally done, just over a year after stretching the linen and starting the first drawing. It's home now, drying for the next six months until I can varnish and frame it. In the meantime, at the school, I get to move out of my space in the workshop room shop and into a permanent spot to start the first "still life" in red, white, and green.

Time to put away the big brushes...

I repainted the entire background last night (adding a bit more yellow to the mix) and also the cast shadow to the right of the base. I always find the shadows hard to paint. The nearly solid, dark interior (umbra) is easy but as I move out towards the edges towards the light (the penumbra -- almost a shadow, where some of the light is obscured), there's quite variation of subtle patterns... In some places you see a feathered effect, in others definite lines but no hard edges, and then there are blobs where the shadow is equally transparent, as if generated by Photoshop...



Now onto the smallest brushes for some finishing touches in the interior, softening some edges and pushing up some dark shadoes in the centre of the head to punch out the sides of the face and head (the parts closest to us).

Two more sessions max, and then I'm calling it quits on this one...