After about 8 sessions of work on this painting and starting over 3 times I have finally completed it. I have learned a lot after spending this much time on one painting, especially with the satin fabric, this is the first time I have ever painted it.
The first thing you will notice is how dull the painting is, at least on the top half. Well, it has taken me so long to finish the painting that the top half is about dry and ready for varnish. Actually this will be a great example of why you need to varnish oil paintings, they just look so dull without it.
As soon as it is dry fully I’m going to varnish it and post a new image of it. It will be nice to see both images side by side.
A few times before I started painting I had to do what is called “oiling out” to liven up the values and colors in the areas I was going to work. Here is a great post by Gamblin of all the technical aspects of dealing with surface quality.
I don’t use the Gamblin products to oil out, I just use refined linseed oil, but I do it VERY carefully.
Im especially happy with the satin fabric. I worked very slowly and methodically on it for days. There are a few parts of it that I could have done better but overall I think for my first time painting satin I’m very happy with it.
The value changes in the fabric are so slight that I had to push a few one way or the other to get the curve of the folds to read correctly. I kinda wish that I painted thicker, even though I found that working with the satin seemed to go better when I was scumbling in the value changes while keeping the edges soft.
