Monday, November 29, 2010

Two New Life Paintings


I spent four hours on this life painting of Aine and then I left it for fear of losing any freshness that there was in the brushwork.
I'm very lucky to attend an all day drawing session, but the diminishing natural light in these winter afternoons means that the subject looks very different than they did in the morning session.
I am always tempted to keep reworking the tones and shadows as the daylight fades and the artificial light becomes dominant.
All in all I think it's best to start a new piece if possible.
So I did the study of our other model, Rubén, holding a broomstick in two hours under over head spotlights. And, although I usually prefer natural light, I found this effect quite striking.


Knowing when to leave a painting or an illustration alone is a constant difficulty. The great thing about the life room is that it imposes tight time constraints on you, and what any good artist learns from that will hopefully inform the other types of work they do.

1 comment:

  1. I got this e-mail from my friend Brian:
    "Hi PJ
    Liked your latest blog entry of the lying figure. I'd leave a comment
    but can't manage it.
    Can you tell me again the colours you use in your life painting
    palette, there was a kind of flesh tint in there too.
    Regards,
    Brian"

    Hi Brian
    I must do a post on my paints, thinners and brushes.
    My palette for life painting varies but the basics are usually, Titanium White, Davy's Gray, Yellow Ochre, Raw Umber, Burnt Sienna, Cadmium Red, Alizarin Crimson, a spot of Cadmium yellow,Buff Titanium (flesh tint)and Coeruleum Blue.
    regards
    PJ

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