A Great Beauty

A while ago, I posted a drawing. I'm not sure why I've taken so long to put up the painting, but here it is!

Oil on gessoed illustration board, 16"x20"

Whiskey and Water sketch progress

Lacking any documentation to show you either the new work I've recently finished or even my progress in those pieces, have some older stuff: the progression of the Whiskey and Water sketch, from December'11 to March'12. Watch me learn composition and perspective, and get decent reference!

It's flipped at the end for purposes of book-accuracy on which of the main figure's hands is crippled, and also because the composition is so much better like that. Also edited in the final sketch: the size and placement of the background.

Whiskey and Water WIP

This is not the most agreeable painting I've ever worked on. Progress is steady but reminiscent of pulling teeth.

Bramble Weaver progress shots pt. 2

Where we left off, the painting was at about the halfway mark and I was deep in hate it.

It's the brambles, I thought. If I start to define them and work away from that awful color the underpainting is in, maybe the painting will suck less!

 

Nnnnno. Still sucks. In a bit of desperation, I started working on the clouds a bit. And then...

Eureka! It was the middleground that was screwing up my entire sense of the painting. From here on, it was pretty easy sailing.

This is where it is, now (though not so much with the yellow-green tint):

I still have some work to do, but it's something like 95% done at this point. It'll be done by the end of the week!

Bramble Weaver progress shots pt. 1

I've been bad about keeping my blog updated, but I've been good with the painting thing.

Reference, sketch, mahl stick, prepped board with the drawing transferred and spray-fixed: this is where it all begins.

 First painting session:

I also toned the brambles at the end of this session, but it wasn't worth another photo.

Second painting session:

At this point I hated everything about this piece except for her hands. It was really weighing on me, so I turned the board to face the wall and worked on other things for a couple of days. (This is why I enjoy having multiple paintings in progress at the same time: it allows me to step away when one isn't quite working.)

Continued in part two!

Current projects

Sorry for the lack of updates! I've been running around for the last few weeks - I have three paintings on my plate, with about three weeks to do them. They're all in progress, and I'm not really worried that I'll run out of time, but it still does mean that certain things fall by the wayside.

Bramble Weaver

The City and the City

Whiskey and Water