What many people think is "black" in a painting may not be black at all! When the photo for this portrait was taken, instructions were given to wear black and white. As you can already tell, it made for a fantastic photo! In the clothing, I indeed used a pure black paint - Ivory Black. And it worked well. But for the background, I really wanted something that was not flat and that had some color and warmth to it. So I created my own "black" recipe from a combination of paint colors, and it really "pops" the people. What I mean is that it moves them forward off of the background and makes them look even more 3-dimensional.
I have been working on completing the face and hair of this guy (David). He is now completed to the stage that only final detailing is left. That means eyes, teeth and a few other minor adjustments. I ordered some very fine brushes to do that detailing with, but the order was held up because of one item being on backorder. I just received notice that it should be shipped this week, and then I can complete him. In the meantime, it is on to the brother next to him...
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There are many times I think that I am glad to be charged by the project, or job, rather than by the hour. This is one of those cases, where my client will be happy that i am charging for the size of the portrait, not the number of hours that I am putting into the work.
Case-in-point: this pinstriped shirt has taken me FOREVER to finish! Somewhere between 13 and 15 hours. You could say that it is one very expensive shirt! I will now go into the girl's sweater and add the white to her stripes, and then it is on to the shirt and hat on the 3rd person. I;m getting close to being half done. Whew!
Most of the first layer of flesh is now on the canvas. You can see what a difference blending makes! I am going to save the mouths for a little bit yet, and get the clothing done first.
The girl's sweater is black and white stripes which came together fairly quickly (for me). However, the male who is on the side of the canvas opposite the girl has a pinstriped shirt on, and that takes a long time...I'll post that next - probably on Saturday.
I try to warn my students (and always tell myself) that there is going to be a period of time in every painting that is the "ugly stage". The stage where you are sure it should be thrown away, or that you should put down the brushes and never pick them up again.
So - I want you all to know that this posting is of UGLY - no way around it. Not that the people in this painting are ugly - far from it...they are all very good looking! But they are just growing into their beauty in this portrait painting business...a bit at a time. :-) And right now they are ugly....next week they will be much better!
