Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Capturing the Light

A while back I spotted a gorgeous vintage dress at the little shop close to my studio on Main Street in Woodstock.  It was a strapless, full length dress with layers of purple (I love purple!!!) and sheer black tulle.

I asked a lovely friend of mine to pose for me, in the dress, at my studio.  We aimed for a time in the afternoon when the sun would be pouring through the window.  I got hundreds of beautiful shots, and started working from one where she was sitting on the floor in the light.


At the start of the painting I blocked in the largest shapes and kept the colors a little darker and richer than they needed to be in the end.  I want to give the lightest accents some contrast.



As I kept developing the details, I realized I didn't like the position of the hand on her lap.  So I used a photo that was shot just a couple frames before, in the same light, and changed her hand.




My toughest critic showed up to give me her opinion....she said I'm pretty close!


I'm letting it dry for a little while, living with it for a bit, before I decide on the final touches.


3 comments:

Unknown said...

Kristina, I think the change in the hand pose is an excellent move, I like the final pose much better than the original. It's a beautiful painting. Hope to see a better photograph of it so I can appreciate the details.

Yevgenia Watts said...

It's wonderful! Might be my favorite painting of yours so far. Love the dramatic light!

Shelley Weber said...

This is so beautiful!! I love your use of light, it is so captivating!