witte's end studio: work in progress: desperate for some java

it had been quite a long time since i posted and decided to get something in here today even though i don't have anything finished to showcase. i haven't been entirely idle as i have done a commission, just not a painting for general consumption.

so, this is based on a photo from a session with a great local model anna last fall. i am still playing around with pushing the composition envelope a bit (well, maybe a lot....or even too much????). i know that i will have to devise a solution to this dilemma. something in the upper left would probably do the trick.....the edge of a frame, an amorphous organic blob of yellow, what ever.....i will have to think about it as i go along. it also appears that i have gone back to darker washes and i am not too sure that i like this. anyway.

the colors for the flesh and initial light wash were scarlet lake, raw sienna, brilliant orange, and manganese blue. the modeling on her flesh was various mixes of vermillion and raw sienna with and without the addition of cerulean blue both alone and in the mix. i used a very dilute wash of ultramarine blue to help some of the shadows recede by both cooling them off and darkening a bit. this seems to do more cooling than actually changing the overall value....which can be beneficial. the shadow on the wall behind her and on the floor is a stand-by ultramarine blue and burnt sienna with some alizarin crimson permanent and mineral violet tossed in rather randomly for interest. this is where i wish i had gone lighter from the get-go. that would have allowed me to manipulate it in terms of color, temperature and value as i went along....now it is, if anything, too dark already and i will have to leave it alone....sigh.

initial washes and start of modeling

in other news, i noticed that escoda synthetic watercolor brushes (prado tame models) were deeply discounted at dick blick in anticipation ( i think) of the delivery of their new escoda versatil synthetic kolinsky feel-alike to the states. i painted all of this painting to this point with the #16 round prado and some of the details, like eyes with the #8 round prado. i really like them. i have to say that they appear to me to have all the qualities that we like in sable but at a much lower cost (the #16 was $19.00) and i suspect more durability. the one thing i will comment about as one might miss it in the details is that these brushes are about one size smaller than corresponding brushes from other manufacturers........the #16 is more like a #14 and the #8 is more the size of a #6. so enough of this prattle. on with the show.