Week 25 - Back to work!

Luckily, while in CA, we found a camel hair coat. I was able to photograph it in a similar pose and lighting for use in this piece. A big part of the time with Jennifer was spent seeing how she used her photos for references. When she goes on a photo shoot, she takes hundreds of shots and then saves all of them on CDs and a back up hard drive. She doesn't delete ANY! Sure there will be a few that have the best poses, or expressions. But sometimes she'll need a hand or foot or background from a lesser shot to complete the image. When she is using a photo for direct reference, she has it on an extra large monitor that she connects to her laptop. The image on the screen has better/truer colors than a printed image. We also spent time talking about this piece and she offered some ideas; I had the trees to both sides of the hat, looking oddly manufactured. So yesterday I worked at adding some more behind the hat. I am also planning to add greenery to the trees, softening the look a bit. I am also planning to add more shine, etc, to the spurs and such behind the subject. Plenty more to do!

Interior

This is the still life I completed while at Jennifer's place. A lovely day spent! Trying to recall some of what I learned while there, some new, some remembered; - Pay attention to edges. Some need to be more solid and some need to be softened. Softening can be done with a mixture of the two colors or with a brush stroke while both colors are still wet, or even using a tissue to "knock" the edge, or a finger to blend. - Don't forget to punch the dark accents. - Brush strokes; this was a topic that we explored numberous times. Discussing Sargent's single strokes to represent a highlight, etc. And creating a textured more painterly background. Even intensional stray brush strokes to pull a color from the background over the edge of the subject. We've both noticed that music choices when painting are variable; the same song can be inspirational or immensely irritating at times. Audio books work sometimes. And other times I cannot remember at all what was playing.

Proof!

Jennifer and I spent one rainy day inside painting and it was wonderful! A fire in the fireplace and sparkly silver on the beautiful wood table. I did a close up of the flowers and candlesticks, she did an interior of the dining room. (a beautiful painting, but washed out by the flash photo). It was a perfect way to complete the visit. It is a treat to see another's palette, color mixing, brushstrokes and just plain notice the different points of view.
One of the discussions we had was about values and working to keep the bright spots bright; relative values and using a toned surface or white canvas. Also challenges in seeing our paints in the reduced lighting we had.

Our Meeting

I am just on my way home after a wonderful meeting with Jennifer, my mentor. We spent many hours talking about portrait painting, the business of commission work, visiting studios and painting!
I watched her work on a piece and it was magical. We went through my portfolio, discussing the updates I need to consider if I'm going to send it to an agent. We went through my photos to discuss how my work is progressing. We visited other portrait painters and talked about how they work and set up their studios. And we spent a rainy day painting together.

A terrific visit! I feel like I've learned so much. More will come out in future posts.

Week 22 - Commission work

Switched back to my commission work for a bit. They are the clients!
I move the drawing on the canvas to the left some, changed out the saddlehorn and will be painting some spurs wrapped around the saddle horn. Did a very rough wash-in with diluted oil paint.
Now I'm working on the "form painting". And loving it. Working very intimately with turning the small forms. I'll certainly need to get a bit more color into the skin, but I'm pleased with how it is taking shape.
Still need a camel hair jacket for some photo work.

Week 21 - Fabric and such

Worked hard this week. Painting like crazy. Was hoping to get it finished for a March 1st deadline, but not even close. So I'm going to take a break and work on another piece for a bit.

I'm trying to strike the balance with the background, where it is detailed enough to be there, but not over detailed and seeping into the foreground.

Worked on Wayne's clothing, too. Like I said, though, there is still a lot of work to be done.

Part of the mentoring process is actually taking the time to sit with the mentor and we are planning that trip now. Around the middle of the month we are heading to her studio in CA for a few days of painting, etc. Nervous and excited! We've been talking about once a week since October and have established a very comfortable relationship. She is getting better about "tough love" and I'm getting better about using the information. Yesterday we discussed a new commission I'm getting and looking at various compositions - traditional and a much more dramatic cropping of the image. Looking for that "magic". It has been so helpful having a different set of eyes and vision.