5 mins
35 mins
20 mins
25 mins
Thursday, 1 May 2014
Sunday, 27 April 2014
Lavender Hill - Term 5, Weeks 8 - 10
For the last three weeks of term we were able to paint if we wanted to. I was really excited to try this as it has been over 2 years since my first attempt at portrait painting from a life model and I haven’t had the chance to paint much since. We spent the first week doing a grisaille.
I used raw umber mixed with solvent. Starting of by using a large brush to cover the canvas with paint and then wiping it of with a paper towel. This gives a nice toned background to work on. Then using a small brush I drew in the basic shapes and then blocked in with a larger brush. What I liked most was how fluid and easy it was to change things. I actually scrubbed off my first attempt and started again.
As our model was pregnant I wanted to try a 3/4 pose although this did prove very challenging due to the small size of the features on the head. My arm and hand was very trembly trying to paint small shadow shapes. Hopefully I will build up some muscle tone with practice as I really enjoyed doing this.
After a week our paintings were dry and we were supposed to start blocking in the colour. I didn’t actually end up doing much as I was a little overwhelmed in what to do and where to start. Luckily for me one of the student teachers came into paint and I spent the lesson watching him paint the portrait from beginning to end. It was a big help.
I felt a lot more confident in what I was going to do in the last week. I didn’t worry too much about exactly matching colour as I was working with a limited palette of Raw Umber, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Red, Ultramarine Blue, Ivory Black and Titanium White. Instead I focused on values just thinking of three, light , mid tone and dark. This really helped me. Our teacher had said to leave the turban to last as it would have changed as did the models clothes and had position so I didn’t worry too much about them.
I also learned that although I couldn’t match the colour of the turban that I could still use high chroma to get the effect. I had originally used too low chroma to paint it. Yet again I had a great time and it was a nice end of term even though I didn’t get to finish it.
I used raw umber mixed with solvent. Starting of by using a large brush to cover the canvas with paint and then wiping it of with a paper towel. This gives a nice toned background to work on. Then using a small brush I drew in the basic shapes and then blocked in with a larger brush. What I liked most was how fluid and easy it was to change things. I actually scrubbed off my first attempt and started again.
As our model was pregnant I wanted to try a 3/4 pose although this did prove very challenging due to the small size of the features on the head. My arm and hand was very trembly trying to paint small shadow shapes. Hopefully I will build up some muscle tone with practice as I really enjoyed doing this.
Week 1 - Grisaille
After a week our paintings were dry and we were supposed to start blocking in the colour. I didn’t actually end up doing much as I was a little overwhelmed in what to do and where to start. Luckily for me one of the student teachers came into paint and I spent the lesson watching him paint the portrait from beginning to end. It was a big help.
Week 2 - Studio set-up
Week 2 - Starting to add colour
I felt a lot more confident in what I was going to do in the last week. I didn’t worry too much about exactly matching colour as I was working with a limited palette of Raw Umber, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Red, Ultramarine Blue, Ivory Black and Titanium White. Instead I focused on values just thinking of three, light , mid tone and dark. This really helped me. Our teacher had said to leave the turban to last as it would have changed as did the models clothes and had position so I didn’t worry too much about them.
I also learned that although I couldn’t match the colour of the turban that I could still use high chroma to get the effect. I had originally used too low chroma to paint it. Yet again I had a great time and it was a nice end of term even though I didn’t get to finish it.
Week 3 - Adding colour
Week 3 - Photographed at the studio
Week3 - Photographed at home in daylight
Lavender Hill - Term 5, Week 7
This week's pose reminded me of Johannes Vermeer's painting - Girl with a pearl earring.
_-_The_Girl_With_The_Pearl_Earring_(1665).jpg)
I really enjoyed having a go at drawing this one. I got of to a good start but lost it in the rendering again. It needs more work to soften the edges and turn the forms. One I must do a comparison of and a redraw sometime.
Original
I really enjoyed having a go at drawing this one. I got of to a good start but lost it in the rendering again. It needs more work to soften the edges and turn the forms. One I must do a comparison of and a redraw sometime.
2.5 hours
Lavender Hill - Term 5, Week 6
We started of with 20 min quick poses this week which I really enjoy doing. I wish I was able to do these from life a lot more as I think this is a step I really need to practice. Then we did a long pose but I didn’t really like the pose as I couldn’t see the legs and I wasn’t really sure how to handle it. It was good practice though as it really made me think about what I was going to do. I was pleased with how I rendered the breast as I often just make them look like round mounds!
20 mins
20 mins
20 mins
1 hour
Lavender Hill - Term 5, Week 5
My teacher got me to do a small thumbnail of the pose with just the basic outline, hip and shoulder line. This showed straight away were we had gone wrong with our drawing. I think it is a good idea to get a quick understanding of the pose and work out the largest shapes and proportions.
2.5 hours
Lavender Hill - Term 5, Week 4
This is still the same model that we have been drawing for all the other portraits this term. Viewers may find that hard to tell though! I am still finding it very challenging but this just makes me want to try harder. My teacher said to look at the shape of the chin and work up to get the top lip. This was a useful tip and something to remember for future use. I would like to do a comparison on this and rework it if I get time from a photo I took.
2.5. Hours
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)