My husband happened to read my blog yesterday and yelled at me for even considering starting this portrait over. Of course, he's not an artist and doesn't realize some of the problems and complexities but many times he's right.
In this case, he suggested a background and also suggested playing around with the color in my graphics program. So, I did. I know the wall color of my client is a tannish, grayish, pinkish taupe color and I know the dog is so light (actually lighter than I have portrayed her and I intend to rectify that) that I need a darker background color. Do any of you have any suggestions for a good color to use?
I also played more with the Richeson sticks and realize that the PastelMat needs a lot of pastel in order to build enough of a base for blending. Before that base is built, about the only way to blend is with another pastel. Even so, the pencil marks are still not covering well and it's still difficult to layer the lighter colors over the darker ones. I still have more work to do on this so please think good thoughts for me!
So, it looks as if I'll continue with this and hope I don't overwork it or otherwise mess it up. If I do, well, then I guess I'll start over at that time.
5 comments:
Well I think your husband is right Jan - the lab looks good to me and you should carry on with it. My preferred colour for the background would be the one on the bottom left here :o)
look forward to seeing the next stage
Hi Jan. Thge colors look great but I just love the plain white background..It looks softer.
Lovely job Jan.. I know what you mean..I have started over to the disgust of Nev.. He can't see what I see.. Sometimes we just have to do it. LOL...
I'll have to agree with Dors..... I prefer the white background for such a mellow color group as his fur is.... especially if you're planning to darken her up a little or saturate the color more... will really make it pop against a white background then.
I like the light beige tan background.
Thanks for all your input. I ended up contacting the owner and she preferred a red background. The one thing about commissions is that normally, you have to give the customer what they want. I do think the red ended up looking pretty good - much better in real life than the scan of it.
I guess my DH was right in this case - many times I do start over only to get an "Aha" moment that will make the original painting work. So I try to push through the ugly stage when I can.
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