Another Painting Progress Report

This one is a portrait of Samantha. The first image is from 1/19/2007. In it, you can see that my colors are a bit muddy, but the expression of the brush stroke is interesting, most notably reflected in the face. The placement is also a bit murky and I am working it out in a sculpting type way. The blue underpainting is something that persists into later versions. Underneath this painting is a failed attempt at painting Samantha sleeping. I rarely end up giving up completely on a painting. It was interesting to paint over the image completely, without even taking a photograph. Stepping stones, so they say.

On 1/25/2007, I’ve refined the light a bit on top of the skeleton defined from the previous image. The mouth is wrong, as well as the jaw line. The eyes show potential, but a probably wrong since the rest of the painting is still shifting. The atmosphere of the room starts to open up. The timidness of the body expression is taking away from the impact I am after.

On 1/27/2007, the painting looks like this. I begin to clarify the colors and light a bit more. The right side of the painting is starting to gel, most notably the back of the room. The placement of Sam is still a little wishy washy. I have been avoiding the neck and collar bone area, which is an integral part of the body expression. I’ve clarifyed her mouth a bit more, but until the neck is sorted out, no real conclusions can be made. I believe if you click on the images, it takes you to my flickr account where larger versions can be seen.

Let me know what you think in the comments section.