Sarah and Max At David's Place

Time to start something new, now that I'm at an impasse with other things. This is a wonderful photo of Sarah and Max, and I wanted to see what I could do with it (oh dear...).

Thought I would keep things on the cool side, and make the couch, walls, and curtains in purples. That would contrast nicely the hair color. Also decided to make the pillows green to create more accent.  Here's the start...

Sarah and Max #1

This version is very small, 16" x 20" and I was thinking that if the small version worked, I would consider making a very large painting out of it.  Happy with the couch and shadows, but of course, I've left the most difficult part, the figure, for last. My thought is, given how small this all is, to keep things fairly indistinct.  However, for interest, the dress will have some type of patterning in it (or at least, that's my thought right now). 

Sarah and Max #2

Happy with this so far, with just the smallest amount of detail.  Need to fix the shading under Sarah's nose and some more shaping for the hair on the right side. Also want to fix the hair color and make more of it orange. Think that it would benefit from some patterning on Sarah's dress to keep attention focussed there.

Worked on the hair and the light on Sarah, shape of her dress and also worked on Max. Upped the color in the rug and on the couch. Except for shading on Sarah's face, thinking this is done (hah).

Sarah and Max #3

I think that Sarah's face is too large for the sideview and will think about making it smaller somehow. Might not be worth the mess it could make so we'll see... Maybe, that's ok...

Waded in, of course, and fixed Sarah's hair line. Also worked on more of the shading and lightened the floor.

Sarah and Max #4

The only remaining issue that I see, is the color of the darkest pillow.  Trying to decide whether to do something with it.  Will try very hard not to touch this otherwise.  

Seeing Music

Had a strange experience at a piano concert the other day.  While listening, I saw an image of what the music actually looked like to me: in other words, instead of thinking about the music, or simply hearing the music, it was as if I was actually seeing it.  It was all I could do not to open my phone and take notes on the image that I saw, or leave the concert altogether to get going with a painting. In any case, I stayed, and then tried to recreate what I saw.  Here is the first "draft" of the painting:

Looked like the bottom right half of the painting was too light so waded in to "fix that." 

 I didn't like how the circular form looked like a fiddle head, as that was not my intent (conscious anyway).  Went back in to increase color in the middle and some detailing:

I also decided to turn the painting such that the circular area would be at the bottom, hopefully lessening the fiddle head idea...

Going to leave it for now and start something new (HAH). Ok, so I mounted the painting to get it ready to be hung and realized that from a distance, the circular form is ungainly and a big hole. Had to wade back in and try to fix it by extending the orange pigment down through it.  Also took the opportunity to darken the blue colors. 

The painting has lost some of its magical detailing, but that was sacrificed in order to take out something that wasn't working. Will have to wait for the painting to dry and then I'll try to add some more interesting "notes" to finish it off. 

I reshaped the bulbous end of the painting and reshaped the orange part.  Will need to clean up the paint, but this pretty much ends this painting.

In the meantime, I started another small painting inspired by music which is now well underway:

I'm not sure about the color for the "moons." Will wade back in to fix that. Also need to clean up the grey colors on the snake. Decided to work up the photo of the painting in photoshop to help decide which direction to go in. This version, which I think is an improvement, shows brighter colors in the moons. 

Went back into the painting and brightened the moons by removing color.

The painting is showing darker than it really is, and I like the progression of brightening the moons.  To my surprise, they have become the subject of the painting. Going to go back into photoshop to see if I should put black/white circles within.

Also took the opportunity to brighten the photo closer to what the painting actually looks like. I like the yellow color on the moons better than the purple in the photoshopped version above. Going to give this a rest while deciding whether to add the circles into the moons. Another thought that I had was to add another "snake." This would provide even more depth to the painting. Will take this up another day.

Orchids in a Pot

Well, the old saw holds true, "when at first..." With a new photo, I thought it would be worth trying once again, to paint orchids in a pot. Here is the original photo, which was taken at Balboa Park in San Diego:

Next step was to put the photo in photoshop to work up the painting.

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Here are the early efforts to make the painting:

Orchids in a pot #1

Orchids in a pot #2

Orchids in a pot #3

I wanted to make something more fluid  and not as obsessed with the actual details of the flowers. I am, so far, happy with how this is turning out, although I see it would help to mix some fresh paint!

Finally got the entire canvas covered.  I can see that the pot needs some work and also the top of the painting, in particular, the top left side needs some work. Might help, also, to heighten even more the shadows.  Otherwise, I like how the shaded flowers turned out.

Orchids in a Pot #4

Returned to the painting to work on the background and to up the color in the pot.  I see that the painting needs more work in the back, but otherwise, it's time to set it aside and give it a rest for a few days, then take another look. I can see that I'm in the "happy until I hate it" phase!

Orchids in a Pot #5

Decided to wade back in to make a few changes. I worked on the flowers in shadow to make the colors of the shading more consistent and get rid of the green idea. Also worked in the background to try to make it less distracting.

Orchids in Pot #6

With some tweaking of the vase (I don't like the texture in the upper right corner), the painting will be essentially completed (hah!). And here goes. I might be hating it, but we'll see.

Orchids in a Pot #7

Ok, so I was having a problem in retrospect with the number of all white flowers and the generally cluttered look of the painting. This led to shading more of the flowers and also adding a more distinct color to the centers. I think the painting is improved with this change, giving more depth to the flowers.

Orchids in a Pot #8

More work, to try to increase variation in flower size and to slightly darken the center of the painting. Will it ever be finished??

I was thinking also, that there is too much verticality in the painting, accentuated by the flower stems.  Waded back in to do that, and also to put some glazing on some of the flowers to push them back somewhat. Also worked on the mess at the lower right corner.

Orchids in Pot #9

I think I could press the darkening of the flowers, especially at the bottom of the painting. This will allow more focus on the middle. Some cleanup at the top and I might actually concede!

Darkening the flowers gives the center of the painting more emphasis. Have to decide whether to darken three more flowers.  Because of all the shadows on the flowers, I think I may increase the dark colors in the background, especially top left. This would integrate the deeply shaded orchids.