Paint continues to be no friend of mine. All was well earlier in the week, after I finished the background. I started the painting process working on the facial features and hair as usual. I wasn’t sure how I wanted to handle the chair, especially since I was trying for a more illustrated look originally. At first I thought perhaps using loose brushstrokes, without concern for getting right up to the edge, then using a thin dark line to outline it. I didn’t think it would have enough solidity to ‘hold’ the model, so then I thought to just cover it in a flat color, maybe adding hints of contouring and shading later. And once again, my attempts to coat a large area that has an irregular edge with a wash of color turned out troublesome. I couldn’t use too large a brush, since some sections were only a few millimeters across, yet I needed to get the entire section covered before any of it could dry. It almost worked, but I still got a few brush strokes showing as it dried. To add to the frustration, the brush would shed as I worked, so hairs would stick in the wash, and I couldn’t do anything to remove them (luckily, since it is a wash, once dry, the hair would easily brush off). I got the entire chair covered, but was quite unhappy with the result. Not wanting to try further wash coats to build up the color, I resorted to a sure solid coating – acrylics. I mixed the color I wanted (or what I hoped it would be once dry – ended up darker than desired, but still okay) in a cup so I would have plenty to work with, then repainted the chair one flat color. Despite working fairly thick (as thick as I could, and still get some flow from the brush), I did need to hit most of it again with a second coat.
Now that it was finally painted, I looked at it again to decide what I wanted to do with it next. Flat wouldn’t do, so I used colored pencils to build up some highlights. The texture from the pencils worked well for a soft leather feel, so I think it was a good choice. I used dark pencils for the shadows, then finished the chair with a few white highlights using gouache.
Things got easier after that, as I moved on to the black areas – the chair arms and base, and shoes. I covered them in a heavy wash of black gouache so it be light enough to allow a second coat of black for the shading. I’m still feeling a bit frustrated about paint, so I have yet to complete these areas (highlights, mostly). I sued a wash of gray mixed with a bit of blue for the mid-tones in the chrome base of the chair, then finished it with white gouache highlights.
I got to rethinking the color for the tie, and am still uncertain what will be best in the end. For now, I’ve given it a wash of pink, which will be darkened either a little bit, or a lot, depending how it feels once the skin is done.
For the stockings and blouse, I brushed clean water over the entire area, then lightly added a bit of gray to the shaded areas, blending it out into the lighter areas. I also added some peach to the stockings to give them a sense of sheer. These areas will also get refined once the skin is in.
For the skirt, I decided to go the same route as the chair, so I mixed a dull brown acrylic in a cup, then coated the area. Once dry, I washed some black gouache over it in the shaded areas, then a wash of light brown gouache for the highlights.
Finally, I covered all the flesh areas with the textured gesso, prepping them for the oil pastels to come…