Finally Done?

I took a break from oil painting to make some final tweaks on this image. I think it's finally done. With digital images it's always tempting to tweak some more. Click on the image to see it larger. Let me know what you think. Is it complete?

More Revisions

The world of digital art gives many new opportunities. One of which is endless revisions. Sometimes that be a curse, but at other times a blessing. I like the revisions that I made to some art last night. As I was making an adjustment to the image at top for an entry in the Boneyard Arts Festival ( I darkened the background to increase dramatic lighting), it occurred to me that there was a way to improve my Joy of Dance image. Why not turn her shorts into a more elegant gown. With some skill in Photoshop, I was able to accomplish that fairly easily. That subtle change really improved the image a lot (in my opinion). What do you think? You can click on each image to see it larger.

Slow and Steady

I'm finally beginning to add some color even though I have more grisaille to do on the leading leg and the wings. I'll work on the wings next and then begin work on the sky. I'll go straight to color on the sky.

My goal is the have this completed by April. So my winter will be spent in my nice, warm studio painting a beautiful sky.

Making time to paint

I often think that I'll get some time to paint over the weekend, but many things compete for my time. Many good things. This weekend I needed to help my wife steam off some wallpaper for a room we want to convert to an office and guest room. I then cut and installed quarter round at the baseboards to cover the gaps left when we removed the carpet. There was a good hard wood floor underneath. Grand kids are coming this Thanksgiving, so now is the time to get this done. Since things took longer than we thought, no oil painting happened. But I was determined to paint. So I went in to my day job Monday morning, took care of a few things and then took the afternoon off to paint. I had 3 and a half hours of uninterrupted time and made good progress. Now I am more likely to paint in shorter spurts of time.

I am trying to do a grisaille (French for gray picture) underpainting for the first time. This helps me focus on the details without worrying about the color. Later I will add color glazes. So this was a learning process for me in two ways. I learned that I paint more quickly and focused in the grisaille method. Secondly, I don't have to wait for a time when I have all day to paint to make good progress. This may free me up to move forward more rapidly in the future. I'm also working larger. I have much more control over the details this way. The finished piece will be 42" X 62".

The piece will be called Soar. I greatly admire dancers with their grace and body control. Their abilities are so great that they seem to be free of gravity at times. Hence the title Soar. This grace and control comes from much disciplined training. It is the same with art. I don't believe that art is magic, although when executed well it might seem that way. Good art has a foundation of lots of drawing and painting. The stronger the foundation, the better the artist can execute his or her vision.

Here are larger portions of the full painting. I can hardly wait to get to the sky and clouds.

 

More Drawing Progress

I guess I never posted the progress on this drawing. I added more detail to the hair and back. I have since set it aside for a while and have begun the preliminary painting on a large oil on panel. I'll share that as it progresses as well. I always try to keep my hand in doing art work, whether drawing or painting, but many good things compete for my time. I am currently preparing to share in a two-day workshop about matters of faith. This is another passion of mine. So you see why many good things keep me from doing art. I can assure you that I am never bored.

The Joy Brings Magic

I played some more with The Joy of Dance image. I increased the magic aspect. Her joy brings the magic. I then uploaded it to my Zazzle site to make printed posters available. Click here to view and buy. Eventually, I will put paint to panel and explore this some more in oil.

The Joy of Dance

I took a break from the drawing of my dancer friend to "play" with another image from that same photo session. This is straight photo manipulation using two photos I shot and a scan of cicada wings. Julia's expression of joy led me to think in other-worldly terms. There is also some energy transferring down her arm which may lead to another image using this as the base. I hope you can join her on her flight of fancy.