Saturday 13 October 2012

Figures

The subject at AVA last week was figures and portraits.As I am sure you are aware this is completely out of my comfort zone!! We were  able to either paint from a model, or from a photograph of our choice. I volunteered to be the model for the first half an hour, thinking that this would delay and shorten the time I would have to spend trying to do something reasonable. I know that they are only shapes and should be treated like any other series of shapes, but I do find them difficult.
For the remainder of the morning, after having done my stint of sitting, I needed a figure or figures which was simple, and I found a picture of a child sat in front of a begging bowl, almost completely swathed in a dark grey garment. I decided to change the colours of the cloth to make a much more lively picture, but I still wanted to capture the fear and poverty reflected in his/her expression. I hope the bright colours of the cloth do not detract from this!


The work was done on Fabriano Artistico paper, and I made good use of the remaining blob of Schmincke Transparent Orange, together with a variety of reds, browns and oranges.

6 comments:

  1. The figure is good but the eye lets it down. I think all you need to do is put a white highlight(s)in and that will sort it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the advice Peter, will add a bigger highlight. There already is a minute white dot, but I was afraid of making it too big.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The small highlight is sufficient, it won't be hurt by a little enlargement if that is what you decide. This is a powerful portrait that conveys everything that you intended.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks Mick. Your comment is very encouraging. I will leave it propped up in the studio for a while before deciding what to do.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'll agree to disagree with Mick. I still think the eye needs `tweaking'.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ok, Peter, thanks for that, may put a bit of white paper on to see what it looks like.

    ReplyDelete