"Whole Piece #57"

"Whole Piece #57"
6" by 6"
Oils on Panel

First Phase:
The gessoed surfaced is toned and
a simple layout is worked out
with rough line and a bit of value.

Second Phase:
Darkest darks are roughly laid in and the
lights are placed though lightest lights are
reserved for later. Attention is placed on these
early steps to the angle and character of the
brushwork that sets the painting going.

Third Phase:
Adding subtly in value and brushwork and
bringing lights and darks to meet directly.

Finished

Whole Piece Series Cluster

Whole Piece Series Cluster of 32 Paintings
All together these are about 3' by 4.'  

Yesterday's Bumbling

I must have been a sight yesterday! I kept climbing up on chairs and step ladders craning my head around the dining room light fixture to try to get a straight on shot of these painting that were laid out on the dining room table. Finally I ended up moving the table and holding the camera up to the ceiling and taking the photos blind. Still I had to combine three photos to get all the paintings in and make it seemless in Photoshop. Hopefully next time I can hang them on a wall to get a photo (That would be sooo much easier)! :-P

This is just 32 of the current 54 total (I'm still shooting for 100). I'll have to wait for more to dry before I can get a larger grouping together. I'm excited to get some of the newer paintings in as soon as they dry because there are lots of lovely shadows, more ears, and simply more unexpected views of a face. This is the kind of layout I'm aiming for (with groupings of like features roughly where they might sit on a large face), though with a bit more space between the paintings and with more finesse.

Exciting!

Artprize is open to proposals! I've got my proposal started for the Whole Piece Series. Taking this photo was one piece of it. I need to complete my artist's profile and finish writing the project description. All this Artprize prep has meant I'm not painting as much, but I'm getting some in today. 

"Whole Piece #43"

"Whole Piece #43"
4" by 4"
Oils On Panel

Subtle Shadows

I've been trying my hand at more diffused low contrast shadows in a few of the more recent additions to the Whole Piece Series. In this case this face was back lit so that the whole face was similarly set in shadow with very little value contrast.

When I was at art college and we had a live model set up for the students to paint or draw, that model was almost always lit with high contrast between light and shadow (basically a spotlight was on them). That kind of set up is good for getting basic ideas about drawing and painting down, but there is so much more subtle experiences of light in real life that are meaningful to express in art. Another basic rule often taught is to have a full range of values in a piece of art, from the lightest light (Something similar in value to white.) to the darkest dark (Something similar in value to black.). I find myself more and more drawn to lighting that has to be expressed by breaking those formulas.

"Whole Piece #43"
Side View

So much of what we do see around us we can not fully see because of lighting and that forces us to use conjecture to create much of our understanding of the visual world and much of our understanding of our experiences. I'd like to think on that more.

Next

I'm doing a little jig, as it looks like I have a taker for the bunny portrait! I can't wait to stare at a bunny face for hours and try to suss out its mysteries. I've also got Whole Piece #53 well underway and #54's reference ready, AND I've been able to get back to the landscape on my roof as the weather has finally been cooperating! Perhaps I'll even manage some book art this evening.