Clay

This may be the last session for this male figure painting, but I’m not positive. I’m very happy with its current state, and yet, I keep thinking…

I spent two hours doing a general underpainting for the whole bottom half of this figure painting. There is still a few hours of work that needs to be done with the legs and hands but it’s nice to see it coming together.

I spent two hours painting abs today. Not that I’m upset about that, it’s just interesting that it took that long for me to paint abs.

I began today’s session thinking that I should abandon this figure painting and start a new one. I’m glad I didn’t follow through with that notion.

Yesterday I determined that I was getting much too detailed with this painting and I wasn’t focusing on the simple shapes. So, the best way to force me to simplify was to do a Gouache study of the painting before continuing work on the oil painting.

I’m continuing with the preliminary charcoal drawing of this figure before I start back into the oil painting again today. The idea is to construct the top left of the torso in charcoal then take that knowledge gained over to the oil painting.

I started the painting session today with a preliminary drawing. I wanted to step back a bit before working more on this figure painting and figure out exactly how the form of the body moves in space.

Focus was a struggle today. I worked an hour on this figure painting today and I was finding it hard to stay awake.

This is the first start to a figure painting that I actually feel as if I’m in control. The few paintings previous had haphazardous starts without direction.

With the second session on this new figure painting I’ve spent a total of three hours just making sure I get the drawing exact. I know that this will pay off for the rest of the painting.

Now it is time to do a lengthy painting of the other sex. I’m thinking that a male figure painting will be much easier than a female figure painting.