Warm Days and Clear Skies

Okay. I see a few problems with this one. Yes. I tend to just take a shot of the painting while it is still on the easel. Just trying to get a marker of where the painting is at the moment. Something to look back on and see where I am or where I was at a point in time.

How do I feel about this painting at the moment? I really enjoyed that I started with a darker base than usual. Lately I have been doing a light colored wash. Something warm like a yellow or orange or red. This base was really just scraped gunk from my last painting. Sometimes getting rid of the blinding white gesso look is helpful. Other times, it is necessary to just get things started.

With that said, the skin tone feels a bit darker than usual. When you start with a darker base, in a way you spend your time really focusing on the light. Or the sense of light that the oil paint offers.

For a while I have really enjoyed the flat, blocky, abstract way of dealing with shape, color and subject. Yes, it is a simplification. Suggesting the 3D. A bit like a cartoon. For the moment, trying to figure out if the idea that really skillful artists like John Singer Sargent successfully suggest forms by simplifying them a bit. Keeping the areas of light and dark crisp and more easily recognizable through that simplification.