I like to paint more than one painting at a time. Now many artists work on one and one alone and they’re “gonna work on this thing until its finished, by golly!” Then as if it’s some kind of reward for finally completing the work they then get to start another. The problem with this method for me is that I work so long on a piece that I get to feeling punished; condemned to do this and only this until I’ve earned the chance to paint another. That’s not fun!
What I discovered is that having several paintings going at a time keeps everything fresh and fun! So, right now, I’m working on a painting called First Glance.
This piece is actually of my two lovely daughters, Rebekah and Meghan. They were flower girls in my nephews wedding. The reference photo was taken just as they took a first glance at themselves all dressed up and ready to go. It was a very sweet moment. Each girl’s expressions captured her unique personality.
BTW, my daughter is not green! What you see here are the very beginning stages of a painting, where the drawing is made on the surface to be painted on. I then begin my under-painting. This process, called Grisaille, was used by many of the Flemish old masters. It’s the process of using grays to determine value, form and temperature. The Italian masters referred to it as Verdaccio because their subjects had olive tones in their skin, thus we have “greens.” Since I’m Italian, I use the latter.
Comments