Imaginary portrait of Katarina - process

-

 I found a board backing an old 16"X24" (45X60cm) frame. The picture had long since disappeared, so I took the frame apart. After a layer gesso on the board, I sketched an outline with a black sharpie marker.

Note to self - use a lighter color next time. I mixed gesso and black acrylic paint to mark the initial shadows in the face.

Immediately, the portrait changed from light and airy to something darker. The next step was to put the warmest highlight on top of the darkest shadows.
I left it for a few weeks and looked at it again. A mix of golds, reds, with a dab of blue for the neck, ears, and facial shadows from the emerging feather hat and earrings  ...
She needed definition between hat and face, so I blocked in the outline of hair. The face began to be more rounded and shaded. The necklace got color from whatever was on the palate.
Another layer, with more light and darks on face, hair, and dress. The eyes start to emerge with eyelashes and shading in the whites of the eyes.
The next layer warmed up the tones, while the background picked up reds and the ears became more flesh-colored. A touch of white appeared on the hair.
Detail of the face at this point: the rough wood surface resisted blending.
I shaped the ears and blended the left side of the face with a lighter wash of red and titanium white. Then I softened the beads and outlined the dress with tinted titanium white. With 2 reds and a brown, I defined the mouth. Dipping a toothpick in brown, I curved the eyebrows and shaped the hair.

I drew in the feathers with markers and acrylic. Using deep and medium blues, I shadowed the right side of the hat, defined the background, and toned down the dress pattern.

Then I named her for my grandmother's wild days: Katerina. 
Except that her lower face bothers me enough to work a little more ... 

Popular posts from this blog

The God beyond magic

-
I’m reading the first letters and updates from the missionary movement following the Pentecostal outpouring of the early 1900s. Two things amaze me: first, the courage and conviction of the early missionaries that sends them across the world in rickety ships, on donkeys and camels, and carried over treacherous ground by native bearers. Second, the naive and uninformed decisions that lead to tragedy and harm. An appeal in the Sept 20/1913 issue of Word and Witness warns those who want to be missionaries to test their calling, not to rush out on impulse because it is a desperately hard life. The author tells those who speak in tongues that they still must learn the indigenous language because God will not magically give them understandable native speech. And the writer adds that life will be difficult beyond imagination – culture shock of foreign food, ill health, and persecution is to be expected. Only those with a sure call will survive. And many of them will die trying to tell other...
Read more

How a mural happens

-
Image
The mural process? "How did you think of it?" my friends ask. "Does it have a spiritual meaning? The vine and the branches (John 15)? The tree planted by living water (Psalm 1)?" No. Creative stuff happens in my world. Randomly. In bursts of energy, music, and/or color - which is why we have this mural. My first attempt at a project or art form will typically mean making something big or audacious ... because I don't know if I want to do it twice. What if I hate it and the process feels like drudgery rather than fun? Better to have something worth keeping (or giving away) than fooling around with little samples. I'd rather perfect a skill by tackling another project, from another angle. As you can imagine, I try a lot of big things. Have big failures and big fun, along with some keepers. For me, art is rarely planned. It happens along the way. When we rented this house (7 years ago), we noticed the gorgeous guava tree beside the porch. The bark? Heart-stoppi...
Read more