Random

This is not the painting I was planning for today! I had a particular vision and, after prepping a piece of paper with a rough coat of white gesso, I opened up my reference folder on my desktop and started clicking through photos, looking for the perfect face to work with my plan, which entailed inclusion of a chrysanthemum and some collage.

Then I came across this model, who I painted a year or so ago, and I thought to myself, Hm, she would be cool in acrylic, especially because she has some intriguing shadows and colors in her face, and suddenly there was a whole new plan.

Here is the old painting, in watercolor (or maybe it was acrylic inks?). I painted her "straight," and then decided to futz around with Stabilo to make a "halo" around her, and with an Elegant Writer for the background. I may have thrown some salt in there, too?

So far all my acrylic paintings have followed the formula I learned from Emma Pettit, which is to create a colorful background first and then paint over it, so that I start with whites and move through to darks; but with this one, I started with a white background, which involved some reverse thinking. When I finally got done with the figure, I decided that I did need a color in the background, and chose the lavender to make both the shadows and the contrasting colors pop. I was intentional about the direction of the paint, which all radiates out from her head and allowed me to use my flat brush to give a soft edge to the peach fuzz hair she has on her head; I'm not sure whether I should give it another coat, since it's kinda sketchy looking. I'll think about it and come back later.

I did a better job last time of capturing the slightly exotic tilt of her eyes—they are a little too big and round this time—but otherwise I am happier with the likeness; the nose isn't too long as it was before, and the entire head and face are in better proportion. So I guess I have learned something about facial structure, at any rate!

Here is "Bald Girl #2"—white gesso underpainting, charcoal drawing, acrylic paints, and a little bit of Stabilo here and there. 9x12 on 140-lb. coldpress Strathmore paper.

Fitting it in

Between doing annoying (but apparently necessary according to the Franchise Tax Board!) back taxes and coping with plumbing problems, I haven't been able to take the time to focus on making a painting these past few days. I split my time between searching for paperwork and plunging the kitchen sink, calling people for errant W4s, trying to understand the questions in TurboTax, boiling water to dump down the sink in the hopes it would loosen whatever was clogging things up...not conducive at all to creativity. But after yesterday's debacle with the initial plumber I contacted (he showed up three hours late and then didn't have a pipe wrench with him!), followed by seeking out a legitimate guy and getting him to come look at the problem and give me a quote, I also had to spend today waiting for him to arrive and then trying not to hover while he did the work.

I hesitated to start something at first, but then decided that I could at least lay down the base drawing and then maybe, once he arrived and started dismantling the pipes, I would have time to make the painting (also preventing me from hovering). This plan proved doable (although I did the second half of the painting after he left, he was so quick!).

I decided to go back to a "loose" watercolor style—the kind I refined through taking Fiona Di Pinto's mini lesson on Etchr—but this time with a reference photo chosen by me, and in richer tones and colors. Her pose turned out looking a bit awkward, since in the photo she is leaning forward with her forearms crossed on a table but in this format I only had room to show her shoulders and upper arms. I should have either drawn smaller or used larger paper! But I'm mostly happy with the bloominess around her features and the intensity of her gaze. Her hair was much darker than this, but I ran out of my dark sepia and had to mix ultramarine and burnt sienna to get this lighter shade of brown.

"Ella"—pencil and Paul Jackson watercolors on Strathmore 140-lb. coldpress watercolor paper, 9x12 inches.