Facade - 1st Layer

Except for the background, which will be all black, this now has one layer on it. I'll come back to fill in the background, but otherwise I will have to wait a while to get back to work on this one since it will take a long time to dry on the ABS.

Just a Bit of Color

The flesh areas all have one layer, but I have yet to attack the headdress or the background. I need some patience!

Quick Charcoal-Paint Drawing and Website Updates

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I started the day by running a 5K in 22 degree weather (it was fun!) and finished by having a BBQ sandwich, pie, and good company.

Above is a really basic outline painted in, with some charcoal lines still visible. This was originally going to be on a 30" x 24" canvas, but unfortunately when I pulled said canvas out I noticed it was significantly warped. I will have to see if there is a way to fix that or get a replacement. However, I didn't want to wait to start a new painting, so this is on a 20" x 16" piece of ABS mounted on a maple board. I love ABS, but it does take the first layer a long while to dry. Hopefully I will have a full base layer done by tonight, and then I can work on the painting below while I am waiting.

Also, I made some small design changes to my website. Please take a look and let me know what you think! I am always considering getting rid of the red background theme, but I have had it for a while now, and it's my favorite color. In the near future I need to add another demo or two and update a lot of information.

Easy as 1 - 2 - 3

OK, maybe not that easy, but I do try and keep it simple in the beginning. The following is what has occupied my last two evenings.

Here you can still see some of my sketchy charcoal lines in the headdress. I started off by enveloping the figure with the almost black background, the mask, and painting in the totally black thin feathers. For some reason I decided not to dilute with OMS as I usually do, (OK, I have a reason, I want the final product to have thicker paint) so this all took about 50 times longer than it usually does. My hand was a bit cramped after that, so I decided to dilute a little bit when I got to the figure, saving the places with more detail like the face, hands, and headdress for the next session.

The first thing I did last night was model the arms a bit more and break up the warm tone of the chest a bit. Then I moved on to the face and hands, trying not to create a forced expression. It was all done with my smallest brushes as these areas on the painting are only a few inches wide. The painting is on a 16" x 12" panel.

For the apple and headdress, I got a completely different palette because there is so much variety in the colors in those areas and I had no more room on the flesh-tone palette. This will help me keep my colors clean as I progress, too. The headdress will get a lot more detail as time goes on; there are a few speckled feathers and lots of wisps from the peacock feathers that were impossible to add at this stage.

So there you have it; two evenings at the Lewis Studio!

Inward - Finished

"Inward"

14" x 11" Oil on Panel

All done and ready to move on to something new. Please stay tuned.

Slowly Inward

I know there may not appear to be much difference between this image and the last, but trust me that the paint is thicker and much of the painting has been slightly adjusted. I'm pretty much done with the flesh now, and just need to finish the foreground and hair clips.



For the heck of it, I thought I'd throw in another desaturated version of the painting. Much of the time, when something looks wrong in a color painting or drawing, the problem is in the values and not the hues.

Inward and Race Pics

First of all, thank you for all the congrats and well wishes with the new gallery! I really love the encouragement.

Pushing forward on the painting; more details to come in the foreground blanked, which is just a base layer at this point. Some of the flesh needs another layer, where it moves from light to shadow, but most of it is looking good to my eyes.


In completely not related to art news, I ran a 10K (6.2 mile) race last Saturday morning. I finished in 1 hour, 9 minutes, 47 seconds, with an average pace of 11 min 15 seconds per mile. There I am coming through the finish line.


It was a bit chilly out that morning, so my dear husband headed out to buy a new coat while I ran. He was back with plenty of time to see me through the finish line, and there he is in his warm new coat. After a couple miles I had warmed up fairly well, thus the discrepancy in clothing choices between us.

News, Updates, and More Inward Progress

First, please let me announce that my work is now represented by Hilliard Gallery in Kansas City, MO! This should prove to be an exciting partnership. Look for show dates and openings in the near future.

Also, I finally updated my website with my newest painting and recent drawings. Sometime soon I feel I should add a new demo or two as well, so stay tuned for that.

Finally, here's a little more progress on the painting. I have done a second layer over the light area of the back as well as starting in with the shadows. The lights may require even a third layer so that it appears thick enough in real life. Often the density of the paint does not come through on the screen.

Inward Progress

That's an interesting title for this post. Anyway, I am sure you can see where progress has been made in comparison to the earlier version. This is a pleasant painting to work on; it just seems to come from the brush(es) slowly but smoothly.