After 2 months of working on this portrait, she is finished. I can't tell you how many hours I have put into this because its been a learning experience for me and I really enjoyed it. I would stand the piece in my house so that I could walk by, look at it and think of what I needed to change. The most difficult part was capturing the dark values in her face while keeping the subtle flesh tones. I used a lot of black in her hair and dark values of Tuscan Red, Indigo, Sienna Brown and LF105 Cobalt Turquoise on the left side of her face to create the dark values of her face turned away from the light. The other challenge I found was the flower was competing with her face and I wanted her face to be the focal point. After putting all the colors and values in the flower, I had to readjust her face. It was amazing how pale the values in her skin became. Now I'm excited about working on portraits and I'm looking for another great subject to practice on!
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Samantha completed
After 2 months of working on this portrait, she is finished. I can't tell you how many hours I have put into this because its been a learning experience for me and I really enjoyed it. I would stand the piece in my house so that I could walk by, look at it and think of what I needed to change. The most difficult part was capturing the dark values in her face while keeping the subtle flesh tones. I used a lot of black in her hair and dark values of Tuscan Red, Indigo, Sienna Brown and LF105 Cobalt Turquoise on the left side of her face to create the dark values of her face turned away from the light. The other challenge I found was the flower was competing with her face and I wanted her face to be the focal point. After putting all the colors and values in the flower, I had to readjust her face. It was amazing how pale the values in her skin became. Now I'm excited about working on portraits and I'm looking for another great subject to practice on!
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2 comments:
Kendra, I've been interested to see how you would finish this one, it's a lovely, delicate piece. I can see how you'd worry about the flower dominating. I love how you did the flower but her face dominates now because of those dark eyes and hair - a nice balance I think.
I can identify with your dilemma about the skin tones, I had the same problem with a portrait I did, funnily enough that was a girl named Samantha too! Your use of blue on the shadows is very effective, I wish I had thought of that for mine. Something to remember for the future so thank you. I look forward to seeing more portraits from you, they are so challenging aren't they? :)
Thank you for your comments, Janet. Yes, the skin tones can be challenging. I learned in oil painting years ago, that if you choose the wrong colors a child's skin can look more like an adult. I had a bit of a problem with her hands. Practice, practice I guess! I look forward to trying more portraits when I find an inspiration next!
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