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Portrait artist, fine artist, educator, student. Trying all means to keep from getting a day job in the tough times, but still supporting myself as an artist! deejaystar@yahoo.com Follow any and all of my blogs. THANK YOU!

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Girl in the Yellow Dress - Finish

I started playing with all my yellows. And being FRUGAL, I didn't have many. A pale gold, a bright lemon, a bit of ocher. I also decided right away to put in the pink and the highlight on the cheek. The painting is all about that wash of light across her dress.


First thing I started to see was that my darks were not going to hold up against the yellows.

Throwing in some more of the tones on the skin and dress, I decided to paint in more of the underpaint. Heck, it will end up black, so I put some real black in.

A much stronger contrast to the foreground.
So it is time to start working on the details:



Once the dark is established, the rosebuds start to pop and the depth of space starts coming up.

I really am not as happy with it as it comes to the end. It starts being a matter of just tweaking. I really think I will stop adding so much color on a few pieces and see if I like them more. I love the looseness and texture... but there are still things that need fixed.


Everything is pulling together. It is tricky, I see from the photos, but I did tone the skin down using a bit of a neutral violet that would kill the bright pink and even the tone out a wee bit. There are a lot of fiddling differences between the pictures. As you see the garden is blooming and I am trying to force that light on the dress up closer to washed out light.


Comparing the values in the original show how much improved it is by painting (;-) ). I tell my clients how much photos can lie. But the amazing thing about art is how much more you can SAY, not even SEE with an image. It is not about reproducing the picture, but reproducing the mood that the image evokes.

The finish is not as crisp as the progress pieces, but this is where it ends. I think I achieved the nostalgia and sense of place I was going for:




dj*

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