This morning I continued working on this project, a portrait of a couple. I am working from their vacation photo, taken in Greece, that shows them on a motor bike, wearing helmets and sunglasses. In December, I did a pencil sketch (posted here Dec. 14, 2016). Then a few days ago, I traced the basic lines of the pencil sketch onto the canvas, to help me get the painting started quickly. This gave me the basic positions, with a few lines, barely visible. After making sure I could actually see the lines I had traced, I switched to paint (acrylic). So far I am still using only white and brown paint (burnt umber) because I am not yet going for realistic color but just trying to see where the lights and darks areas. I am working from the photo, trying to make sure things are in the right place: facial features, sunglasses, helmets. Sometimes I am measuring, and sometimes looking at the painting in a mirror and sometimes even turning the painting upside-down. As I work I am already trying to get a likeness, but right now that isn't my primary focus. At this point I have more basic goals: does anything in the painting seem to defy the laws of physics, or of biology, etc.? Is this a believable picture of a man wearing a helmet, of a woman in sunglasses, of two people on a bike?
No comments:
Post a Comment