Finished Painting of Patroclus

I've taken this painting as far as I want to as of July 11 and have taken it off the easel for good. In six months, after all of the layers dry thoroughly, I'll varnish it to bring back the fresh look of new paint. In the meantime, I'll hunt for an appropriate frame and look into making a limited set of digital reproductions (giclees) for sale.

Same camera, different light, different results

Second painting continues on the Patroclus painting and I hope to finish it in the next few weeks. I'm considering the background and foreground done (except for the arrows in the front). Small areas still need to be rendered on the figure, particularly the hand, and the feet. Some edges need to be softened still (half-tones on the thigh and the upper shoulder. Finally, I'll redo the strands of hair...)

Two weeks ago, I took the pictures below at home, at virtually the same time, in different lights.

Reds and Greens

A few weeks ago, I took the Patroclus painting into the school and picked up a few tips from David Gluck, including:

• Using Cadmium Red for the red blanket rather than Indian Red (too dull and cool)


• Building up the contained shadows on the blanket with darker values of Cadmium Red (mixed with Ivory Black). Previous shadows were too muddy and grey.


• Cooling the brightest areas of the figure with Green Umber and Yellow Ochre to enhance the 3D effect. This led to new concepts for me about using colours to suggest form the same way I've been using values to model forms (lights, shadows, half-tones, bedbug lines, etc).
  
  

I have yet to work again on the figure, but over the Victoria Holiday weekend, I managed to finish the first painting of the red blanket and the surrounding area. I forgot my Winsor and Newton Artist oil paints at home but bought some replacements at a local store. These were from the Winsor and Newton "Winton" line of oil paints, which are cheaper than the professional line I'm used to because they contain less pigment and more vehicle (linseed oil)--making them good to apply in large spaces. I used them to finish the first layer of the foreground.



In the original painting, David added an archer's bow and a scattering of arrows around the edge of the blanket. Because my canvas is larger than the original, with more space around the figure, I've decided to add only a limited number of the original arrows. I've marked their place on the right side but have yet to add any detail.

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.

A Good Start on the copy of Patroclus

In several consecutive evenings this past week, I've laid in the background and some basic starting tones in the shadows and lights of the skin. One thing I need to do is big form modelling on the body. The light source hits the shoulder first, and so this should remain the brightest... The extended hand and feet should be the darkest tones of skin, so I'll have to work on "greying down" the areas farthest from the shoulder... The balls of the feet will be difficult -- many variations of red and orange and brown in very small forms.

Patroclus Copy in Progress

Jacques Louis David created this life painting while a 15 year old student! I've made a copy as a drawing, and have since transferred it to watercolour paper for a quick study (below). The values are hard to replicate in watercolour paints. I will eventually do a full study of this painting in oils on linen, starting in a couple of weeks.