Mixed Week

The last week has been a strange one. Two funerals and a baptism. Lots of people from family, school days, college days and working life as well as good friends picked up along the way. A mind seething with memories, events and expectations. Maybe the emotional roller coaster has had an impact on the picture making. The main work of the week was the painting of St. Mary's Island but not the only art in my life. Tuesday is life class and the last one was problematic. I started my laying a ground that was a greeny blue for no reason that I can remember, planning in a haze. Having knocked in my drawing I began to mix some flesh tones and applied a stroke or two of my usual mix and stepped back. It was not going to do. Then began a search for colours that didn't offend my eye too much when placed in combination. The resultant melange is shown below.
I've posted this in the Wet Canvas Figure forum and been inundated with quality detailed advice that is going to take me some time to process. I'll maybe get back literally to the drawing board and hone the draughtsmanship before launching into colour again. Nevertheless there are some interesting value and colour relationships in the picture from which I can learn. The model does show one of the difficulties that we have in the current working space, that being the range of different light sources meaning that it is difficult to avoid placing highlight and shadow in the expected places.




Fiona - Oil on canvas board 12" x 10"


After the palette adventures at life class there was a goodly range of paint left on my board so I decided to use it in a quick still life exercise - the result is below. Forty five minutes entertainment that distracted me and sent me to bed feeling better than I had all day.



Still Life - Oil on canvas board 10" x 8"