Update to painting
I’ve gotten more of the painting covered, made the lampshade brighter and touched up a few areas. I still have the front of the bed to finish, and a few other things. I’ll try to get all that done before the next post, which should be the final one. I like the way the pillow is looking, but I may need to sharpen some of the edges later on.
Detail of pillow
Back wall gradient painted
The only thing new here is I now have the back wall gradient painted in. I added a tiny bit of oil to the casein paint to assist with the blending.
Even though any oil medium will mix fine with casein, I’m using a water-miscible oil from Holbein (Aqua Duos,) which I figure to be even more compatible. It takes about a day to become touch-dry.
I have all of the surface worked out now in color tones. The values need more tweaking. Progress on this is slow as I squeeze in time between other chores. I still have far to go, but I can start making refinements now.
Painting update
Painting update
This is the latest version of the new painting I started. I’ve only roughed in the back wall to get the basic values I wanted without bothering now to do much blending. The area around the lamp will be worked on later. I’ll work on her arm next, and then jump over to the right side and get the dark areas laid in.
Detail of face
Instead of working in an isolated section all the way to finish, I’m stopping just short of there, and then moving over to another area to bring that region up to the same level. This keeps me moving across the whole painting and helps keep it more unified, as well as maintaining my interest. In this case I expect everything to be fairly close in value. Once I’ve placed in the darker and lighter areas I get a good idea of the spacial depth I’m working in.
Whenever I leave the apartment, I always make a point of first knowing where it is I’m going. That doesn’t mean I won’t be surprised by the unexpected, however, or willing to change my plans along the way. I treat my art projects in the same manner, and often work out simple small sketches to get a preview of what’s ahead of me. I wanted to take a step back from the earlier post I published to present a thumbnail drawing showing how the design of the new painting evolved.
Thumbnail of new painting
I already had a detail drawing of Barbara on her bed, so I made this smaller sketch based on that with more things on the right side. Her actual bedroom layout has the entrance on the left side of the bed, and to the right is a window and dresser, as seen in the thumbnail. This might have made an okay painting as is, but all that extra stuff on the right becametoo distracting from the main character and didn’t really amount to much.
I decided to simplify it all by replacing the items on the right with an open door, which led me to the idea of introducing another person in the room to make a more dynamic scene. The idea behind the scene now being one where she has changed her mind about leaving with him. In my first sketch he is only shown in profile. When I was making references photos later at Barbara’s apartment, I decided to place the character facing forward but still only partially seen from the chest down. This silhouette reads more clearly, and also was a natural pose of impatience. I used myself as a model and stood in her hallway to take a couple more photos. Now all I have left to do is paint it.
The new painting is getting underway. Here you can see the line drawing on hardboard and preliminary washes of tone being laid down. The lines were drawn with an pigmented ink marker and the washes are caseins thinned with turpentine and oil. The neutral colors are complements of the colors I plan for the final result. The values are also kept simple and within a close middle range (from 0=white to 10=black, they’re about 4-8.) The tentative title I’m giving this now is “She Will Not Be Going.”
Line Drawing and Wash
You can also see how I reworked the composition somewhat. The male figure on the right was modeled by yours truly. I later added a couple of slanting books to the lower shelf to give an extra brake. Otherwise the eye would follow her leg right out the door.
Undertone Colors
I was originally planning on this being finished in oils, but since I have some fresh caseins made I think I’ll just try and use them up. The size is 16 x 20 inches.
Painting by Edgar Degas
The bedroom scene of my new painting has left me thinking about one of my favorite Degas paintings, “The Interior.” This has also been unfortunately referred to as “The Rape” even though Degas himself never apparantly gave it any title.
His compositions and settings have always been very influential to me, and this is a fine example of him at his best. The tension between the characters is emphasized by their poses, both figures cloaked in shadow, and the claustrophobic space, It’s perfect.
This is a pencil drawing I made last year of my friend Barbara sitting on her bed. I told her then that I might turn it into painting someday, and I think now’s the time. I called her today and she agreed to let me return tomorrow and take a few reference photos. I have an idea for what I hope will become an interesting painting. It’s good to have helpful friends.
You are currently browsing the Artwork by D. B. Clemons blog archives for May, 2009.
Artwork by D. B. Clemons 