Humpies
16″ X 26″ Acrylic on Canvas

Fortress
32″ X 36″ Acrylic on Canvas
From the Rita Series

Wave Goodbye
32″ X 34″ Acrylic on Canvas

Telephone Call
32″ X 36″ Acrylic on Canvas
From the Rita Series

Wave Baby
30″x36″ Acrylic on Canvas
From the Bathing Beauty Series

Disconnect
30″x36″ Acrylic on Canvas
From the Rita Series

The Words That One Would Write On Water
40″x60″ Acrylic on Canvas

Yellow Bird
30″x36″ Acrylic on Canvas
Bathing Beauty Series

Access Denied
30″x36″ Acrylic on Canvas
Black and White Series

…and as you can see, further refining happening! The feet have been reworked to a more believable proportion – the original ones seemed almost like ‘Gumby’, you know, st-r-e-t-c-h-e-d out to resemble flippers just about. And the left side leg given a new angle so not to appear as though the model was lifting up [...]]]> …and as you can see, further refining happening! The feet have been reworked to a more believable proportion – the original ones seemed almost like ‘Gumby’, you know, st-r-e-t-c-h-e-d out to resemble flippers just about. And the left side leg given a new angle so not to appear as though the model was lifting up for a fart……yes, well, that’s what it looked like to me. The hands are more dynamic  and we’ve started in on the background. I’ve ‘wetted in’ the hair, ie: applied a wet brush to the pencil crayon outline of the hair – (did you know that pencil crayon on canvas can be used like watercolor? And this is just your ordinary Crayola/Laurentian/Prismacolor type of pencil crayon. That’s where the idea of ‘watercolor’ pencil crayons came from. It works like that on canvas because primed canvas is ‘waterproof’ in a way. The wet pencil crayon color just ‘sits’ on the surface of the canvas. If you like this kind of effect as a finished style, you must coat the painting with an acrylic varnish to keep it from damage – it is a rather ‘fragile’ medium. ) This helps define where the hair is and also to give me a ‘color hue’ to balance out the background color of the foliage against. ….where was I….?……oh, and we are slowly working on the folds and drape of the skirt….not an easy thing to do.
Things still bothering/not working for me:
1. The ‘pears’ which look more like avocados…perhaps because I have some in my fridge that I look at each time I open the fridge door so that ‘colors’ my vision. I’m going to give them a yellow wash to see if that helps. this is a glazing over of a watered down color…I’ll use a value 9 yellow and that is a yellow tending towards the ‘cool’ side of the color wheel. (and you thought it was just slap on any old thing that looks good. No, no, that’s how I get dressed, not paint.)
2.The mouth. Surprise! Something in the face is bugging me.
3. The bottom line of the skirt. I think it needs to look stretched out across the lap as well.
OK…..that’s how it goes dear students…….you keep refining and looking and working and touching up…..the REAL trick is to know when to stop.