This is a painting that was really fun to do. I had a bigger canvas than I usually use and was at a good position in class in terms of the angel of the model and my view of her. Most of the class decided to paint only a portion of the model, some did a portrait, others head and upper body but most didn't do the whole thing.
Here is how I started...
I tried to concentrate on the darks and lights only and get the proportions as close to correct as I could. I like using bright colors for the dark and light and it was fun using the blue and pink to show the lights and shadows. The teacher really liked it at this early stage...he showed the entire class and talked about how different and modern is looked and that even unfinished it was really cool. It was nice to get that encouragement. This teacher is very supportive and encouraging to everyone. Most of the people in our class paint the classical way and are really skilled and talented. So my more dramatic and modern approach is a little different...also, I'm much more of beginner than a lot of the class.
I took the encouragement and moved forward to work on the floor and background. The floor was a challenge because of the different angels. She was on a riser but it didn't look like what is in the painting. I changed the dimensions and color. As well as the color of the background. Background color is such a challenging thing to get right. I tried a bunch of different colors and landed on this in the end.
The other challenging thing was that each week the model's pose was a little different, which is always the case. It's impossible to get back in the exact same position. In terms of position changes, I had a tough time with the right breast. I couldn't get it right and I didn't have a picture from the first week. Also the foot that is touching the floor was not right, I struggles with the positioning of it. After a few attempts and some help from the teacher, I got the foot into a more realistic position.
At the end I was really pleased with the painting. It has a modern mood to it that I like and the colors are interesting together.
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