Monday, May 25, 2009

On the easel ...

I hope everyone had a meaningful, fun and safe Memorial Day weekend!

Here’s what’s on my easel right now ... a painting of a young woman reading in the gardens at Norton Art Gallery here in Shreveport. It’s 11x14, acrylic on cradled Gessobord.

Here’s the work in progress so far:


I decided to use red as the underpainting for the grassy areas, so the red showing through the green would make the lawn seem extra vibrant.


It’s a little hard to see a difference in the photos above and below, but I added a cobalt blue glaze to the trees and the pond, and a red glaze over the middle ground.


Now starting to add some layers of color to the trees.


Now adding the green of the lawn, making the brushstrokes really loose so the red underneath shows through in places:


Developing the reflections in the pond:


Here’s a close-up of the figure:



And developing detail in the bench:


The painting so far:

2 comments:

Sandra said...

I remember that girl! I took several shots of her; she was so absorbed in what she was reading. Love the painting...slh

Karen M Schmidt said...

Thanks, Sandra! Yeah, she made a pretty picture ... certainly no photog worth their salt could resist!