Fourth painting. This painting was going so well, then it fell apart close to the end.
I did something a bit different than my last three paintings. I focused on the center lotus candle and used that as my basis for beginning and measuring instead of the head
Overview
Fourth painting. This painting was going so well, then it fell apart close to the end. I did something a bit different than my last three paintings. I focused on the center lotus candle and used that as my basis for beginning and measuring instead of the head. I was loving it, I was completely focused and hitting details on this lotus that I have yet to accomplish. But, as soon as I started painting the larger soft curves of the body and legs everything seemed to turn to mush. I keep wanting to blend these areas and make them look similar to the smoothness of the figure but it just doesn’t work well. Although I am really happy with the candle and lotus, I think I did very well there with the drawing, the values and details.
My theory is that objects with many different facets seem to be easier to paint for me currently. A stack of block would be a good example of what I think I could paint well currently and I canvas full of flowing fabric would be a nightmare right now. I either have to stop myself from smoothing these areas out or I need to see further into the minute changes in color or value over smooth surfaces. To test my theory I may painting something else tomorrow that has more facets and see how I do.
My hierarchy of painting importance
- Drawing
- Value
- Edges
- Composition
- Color
Drawing
How can I improve the drawing
I took my time drawing here, I didn’t think it was as far off as the above outline is indicating. I believe that some of the difference is due to the photograph being at a weird angle. Anyway, the drawing of the lotus candle was pretty good, not spot on, but very close. And again, the further I move away from my measuring point the worse the drawing gets. Still need to work harder on this.
Value
How can I improve the values?
I’m pretty darn happy with the values here. They look to be pretty far off, but their relatives are spot on. I adjusted the photo of the painting by bringing the lights up to what can be expected in real life and just about all the values fit perfect with the photo of the still life. I didn’t feel like doing the image above over again so you will not see that adjusted image here.
Edges
I focused a bit on edges here, its not hard to determine the hardest and softest edges. The hard part is softening edges where two completely different values of paint are right next to each other.
Composition
I kept the composition simple and didn’t focus on it at all. The only thing I wanted to do was keep the entire figure in the painting.
Color
Not much of a focus on color here. I just recognized which areas were warm and which were cool and tried to keep them somewhat true.