I started playing with unnatural colours schemes in 2018 when I stopped aiming for traditional realism. It has since then developed into a theme symbolizing a feeling of existence being out of order waiting for the apocalypse. The motives often show my daughters in settings where the human behavior is modified by our culture of distancing us from other life.
Landscapes are totally redesigned to our needs and still we feel out of place.
I was not happy with my latest finished oil portrait except for the elbow. The face just didn’t have the same light and as a portrait it was bad, bad ,bad. I sometimes part the painting in four parts and check if there is something interesting for the eye in each part. It failed that test as well.
In my world adding orange will make most thing better. So I did just that and repainted the face as well and made her ear smaller.
I had some left over paint on the palette and did a quick alla prima portrait on gessoed watercolour paper.
Since my kids rarely agree to model for me I often have to resort to photos. (I don’t use bribes. That wouldn’t feel like good parenting). I think a bad photo can be an excellent trigger for an interesting painting. The subject in a perfect photo is probably better left as a photo and using something you are not content with will to my experience leave more room for my own creativity.
I started this oilsketch from an out of focus badly lit photo of my youngest daughter sitting on the kitchen floor. I liked the pose, the reflected light from the floor and the limited palette.
I used titanium and zink white, cadmium red, cadmium yellow, terra di sienna and black..and a small touch of blue. It is painted on paper.
I haven’t done a selfportrait in oil for years but I got tired of painting from photos ( my kids won’t sit still for very long). With a mirror it’s easier to leave out the worst wrinkles and sharp shadows. When I paint from photos I focus to much on details.
I’m not a redhead. I’m just fond of Terra di Sienna. Below is the image of the end result.
