Nothing Precious

Kindred Spirits

Nothing quite beats a good book except maybe reading a good book while wearing a cashmere sweater drinking a glass of wine and sitting by the fire on a cold day (ah atmosphere).

Kindred Spirits, 12 x 16

This was a cold and dreary day, but our model dressed in bright white was surrounded by nice shapes and colors even though the light was blue and overcast.

My first attempt at painting this model was a failure, a real struggle (not pictured). Initially I tried to paint a Portrait, getting the eyes, hair and shoulders. I did not like the look that I created. I ended up wiping that painting out hence the "nothing precious." I had painted for 5 hours, but it was not happening for me; I used Gamsol and a big brush to wipe out what I had which left me with a nicely toned light orange-ish canvas.

The next day I took another look at my reference photographs. I liked the shapes and colors around the figure. This time, I would not take the painting too seriously and perhaps I would paint more than the face. I decided to include the whole figure and the shapes around it. My goal was to be loose and fresh and not too detailed. I approached this painting as a still life and think it is successful in composition. The sunflowers to the left above the model's head appeal to me. And I love the little orange on the table next to the model. Her eyes are downcast to the book in her lap, but note that the light blue book almost matches the folds and shadows of her dress. I left dark outlines the way Cezanne does oranges in his still life paintings. I am surprised that I like the shadow outlines and I will leave those in.