this is another idea that was in mind when the photo set was shot, so the designing phase was pretty easy. I worked on the outfit a little, changed its color, then added a hat. The idea is a play on the Wicked Witch of the East from Wizard of Oz. With that in mind, at first I had changed the skin to green, but further research showed very few, if any, times when she’s ever depicted this way. Despite her being ‘wicked’, her complexion apparently didn’t suffer like the one from the West (this has been explained in the book and musical ‘Wicked’, though). I was relieved by this, as I recall having some trouble with green skin on another piece last year. So, with the color palette set, I worked on the background elements until the whole composition worked for me. I drew it on the board size I typically use (23×29″ in this case), but it wasn’t until I finished with it that I realized the details would be pretty small (the face most notably). I considered going forward at this scale and use colored pencils with no oil pastels, as this would give me the best chance at capturing those details. Then I remembered I had a couple large sheets of thick watercolor paper/board still. Working large is difficult at times, and clumsy often, so I avoid it most of the time, but I decided this one would benefit from it. So, I redrew the piece at the larger scale (now 30×38″). It looks much better, so I’m happy with the decision…

model – Mackenzie

With the remainder of the day I masked it all off, then airbrushed the background. I started with a light gray/green, covering the lower background (distant sky). I then added more gray, some black, and a bit of blue, covering the remainder of the sky, loosely moving around to create the cloud textures. I avoided the area around the tornado, and emphasized its edges with the dark mixture. With the sky done, I removed the masking from the house, then painted it using a gray/green wash of gouache for the siding. The windows, door, roof, and underneath were blocked in flat with a gray-black-brown mix of acrylics. Next, I mixed another gray acrylic, this time adding yellow to give it that sickly look that storms sometimes have. this I airbrushed along the tornado, blending into the house. I added some white to lighten the edges and pull it forward from the sky.
The end result is near black-and-white, which is intentional. Although storms are more or less gray anyway, I would normally enhance it with deep blues, green, and/or purples, but this time the gray works on multiple levels. First, it’ll pop out the main subject later, and second, it’s reminiscent of the Oz movie. I’m pleased the look so far, and hopefully the rest will work out so well…

Note: The masking is still on most of the subject, all but the dress and hat, because I plan to airbrush them tomorrow.