"sollie and sophie" fix

the next stages of this painting are going to be defining the features of the two figures and getting them tied in together and with the background in some places.  for those of you follow this blog i will say that i finished the faces pretty much the way that i usually do and has been described ad nauseum in prior postings. the mouths are still giving me fits and are too tight for my liking. i need to lose some edges and will need to work on doing this as i progress. it probably wouldn't hurt to observe someone who does this well like charles reid who has several videos out showing him painting a face.  i left the photo at the lower right for a reason. it shows that while sophie's face is a reasonable likeness, sollie's isn't even close. i have lost that innocence on the verge of impishness that is the essence of a 2-3 year old. his face is too long for the width, his *left* eye is too high laterally, and the mouth just isn't right in so many ways. i either have to try to fix this or call this a failed painting. nothing to lose, i figure.

sollie "erased"

sollie "redrawn"

to start this process i had to see if i could lift the paint in the center of his face. i started by wetting the area in question and gently scrubbing with a damp, fairly stiff 3/4" flat brush and blotting periodically. this didn't take enough off so i bit the bullett and got out my "magic eraser" (mr. clean) and using the fine side was able too take off the necessary rest of the errant paint. this paper has enough internal sizing to stand up to this if one is fairly gentle. i blotted and allowed this to dry completely before proceeding. then i drew in the features as i felt they should be in terms of location (about 3-5 mm higher) and shape (smaller nose and, well, different mouth). all that was left was the
 re-painting. i was relieved to find that the paper had stood up to the abuse. i am happier with this second version and with some minor changes in the contour of his face i think it will be at least better. this redo has also had the benefit of making me concentrate on the mouth and i am happier with the looser nature of the painting. i will comment on the bared teeth. i have always had trouble with these but i think the subtle handling of the gums and division between the teeth with a light tone of the reddish color works to indicate them, but not draw too much attention. i also strengthen the cheek blush and creases around his mouth. all that is really let aside from loosely putting in a suggestion of the clothing, painting sophies hand, adding some background to the right, was to fix the *left* eye. i simply scrubbed out the lateral upper lid and put it in lower and slanting downward (also a little less height, too i think). this is only visible in the finished painting pictured below. i forget to crop the right side of the painting in the photo so try to imagine it ending at the paint line. i will have to be satisfied with this painting at this stage as it simply will not tolerate any more scrubbing or re-painting.

sollie with a new mouth and nose job

"sophie and sollie"