The Little Artist

Jean Kelly · 03-30-2005, 06:02 PM

Hi David, thank you and you must try this. You will love the texture. You can blend for a velvety skin tone or play around with scumbling over and just picking up a light feather of pastel (that's what I did on the background). I found that I couldn't get too detailed though, probably because I put the ground on quite thick. I'll thin the ground more and use a different brush like Sharon says.

Thanks for the feedback Sharon, I'm still mulling over the color harmony while I'm getting more panels ready. I'll drag the airbrush stuff out later and see just what we have here.

Jean

Michele Rushworth · 03-30-2005, 07:14 PM

Nice start, but I'd be careful of using too much alizarin and white mixed together in the shadows. Those two colors together make an intense cool, not the warm that you'd want in your shadows. I've noticed this on several of your recent portraits, too. You may want to really look at some figures in cool light from life and study the color of the shadows. I think you'll find there's not so much hot pink.

Jean Kelly · 03-31-2005, 01:21 AM

Hi Michele,

I've already started switching it around to more ochres and sienna. I changed the shirt and table and now of course nothing works at all. So, I may just wash it all off and start over. I'll see what the trolls have done when I come down in the morning.

Jean

Sharon Knettell · 03-31-2005, 08:22 AM

This is one thing I have BEATEN into Kim Dows talented little head, do a quick color study first.

Sometimes holding up a scrap of paper with a test color on it to an area in question helps.

Kimberly Dow · 03-31-2005, 11:03 AM

I have a flat part on one side of my head from her beatings, but I do the color studies now.

Jean Kelly · 03-31-2005, 12:48 PM

Those long distance beatings can be very brutal!

This is where I am now. I'm not happy with it so I may wipe it off and try again.

Jean

Jean Kelly · 03-31-2005, 01:11 PM

I vowed that I was not going to buy any new pastels for this painting. I think I'm going to have to break that vow.

The alizaren and hot pinks are excentuated in this photo and the prior ones. I adjusted but it still looks too blue. After looking at this and again at the original I think I'll keep going on it. I'm also going to shorten the pencil, and remove the wall, add more of the golds in his face, and bring some cool lt. green into the upper left background. His ear has a cool yellow in the highlights which don't show up here.

Jean