I have talked a friend of high standing in the community into letting me donate a portrait of her for a Women's Shelter being named in her honor. She is a good kid, all around and I cajoled her into it. I have a few months, as they just had a ground breaking, and I am in it for the press release. I am hoping for entree to the big name crowd but as I am doing it all from sheer guts, I am painting myself into a corner.
Here is her first sketch on a 20x24 inch canvas.
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/i...02/Jewelwc.jpg
She loved it. Only I am not all that experienced in working from photos. And I only have only one. And am deleting her husband from it. At this point I made the mistake of asking if there were any favorite colors and she said purple. Here is my second step and I am stuck:
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/i...002/jewel2.jpg
I had intended on making a glowing dark background and am totally at a loss for how to glaze it back. All of my previous work is alla prima and although the size is somewhat daunting, my lack of skill and familiarity with the technique I have attempted are leaving me at a dead stop.
I have softened the skin tones a bit from this shot and am not worried about the features, although from this photo they appear to be shrinking. I am relatively confident I will be able to relate the finished head to the environment when I get it done, but have definately no clue as to how to achieve that environment at this point.
Although this is a critique forum, are you open for mid-process suggestions and instruction? I would appreciate it!
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