Friday, August 27, 2010

Patterned Drapery & the Female Figure. New Acrylic Painting

I started this little acrylic painting on a 9" x 12" board during our figure group on Wednesday evening.

 I had purchased this BEAUTIFUL and bold patterned fabric during the day, hoping to incorporate it into one of our longer poses.   This is as far as I got in front of the model.  I was a little frustrated with the speed at which my paint was drying!  I was re-filling my palette and re-mixing colors more than I was actually applying paint to the surface.

But!  It was a good enough start to establish the major composition, sense of light, and colors.


Home in my studio, and working from a reference photo, I softened some of the shadows on the back, and defined the area under her backside.  I defined the beautiful patterned shapes, warmth and cool shadows in the fabric as well.  This was very challenging, but truly defines the painting.  Had it been a plain fabric, there would not be enough interest in the bottom half of the painting.



Towards the end, I softened the background and added a few shapes at the bottom - the footstool and the drapery on the floor - to help define the space.  I think it's 95% done...I'd hate to say it's finished...I haven't looked at it long enough yet!

4 comments:

Fay Akers said...

LoVeN IT!!!

pegi said...

In the first picture I thought the fabric would overwhelm her...nut you balanced it nicely!! This is a really nice portrait!!

Rosalie Wrona said...

Beautiful painting and the patterns are wonderful. I can't use acrylic paint without using a wet palette .. it helps to avoid the constant mixing :)

Krystyna81 said...

Thanks for the nice comments!

Rosale...I usually have a little water mister with me but forgot it that night! Back home in my studio it was easier to keep the paint wet...thankfully!