Monday 10 November 2008

Back In Black



She may look paler. She isn't!

I have added more Goldenrod and Limepeel to the cloak. More Slate blue to the head dress and of course black to the background.
The background has been covered with quite a close cross hatch of prismacolour black. To produce a smooth covering I then took a piece of kitchen roll with mineral spirits on it and with a circular motion spread the pencil around the paper.
Then taking a small brush and the mineral spirits I carefully tidied the outline around " Gloria ".
This isn't the final black layer but I need to get the initial layer in here so that I can judge the tone of the picture as a whole. It is always a good idea to complete the background before the subject . Now that I have the black layer in place I can see where I need to deepen the shadows.
I think I am nearly finished with the oranges and greens. The next layers will probably be the browns and pinks. Hopefully we should see her miraculously brighten up and become more lively.
Well...that's the plan ...

2 comments:

Karen said...

Rachel, this gets more fascinating with each post. I'm amazed at how much difference the black background makes.
I have a question, if you are copying/recreating a famous painting, what's the position regarding copyright?

Toni James, CPSA - DesertWindsStudio.com said...

So this is where you've gotten off to!

LOL! Very nice Rachel, good to see you really are working and in doing so learning so much! You own work is going to change by leaps and bounds without you even realizing it. My own work changed dramatically after I did one masters study, I can only imagine what will happen after your studies. How exciting!



Tj