Ballerina Painting Session #2

I came home from my painting session today and thanked my husband for being so supportive of my painting. I am so happy that I've started painting again, and am so grateful for his support.

Today was my second session on the ballerina painting of my friend's daughter, Sophie. The process that I'm learning and using for this painting is different from anything I've done before.

Basically, I'm painting monochromatic (so far) with only three colors: burnt umber, titanium white and mars black. It's a fascinating way of painting. I find I'm concentrating a whole lot more on the "drawing" of the figure, making sure it is "correct", rather than worrying about color. That comes later. ;)

Dean suggested that I "re-draw" the figure first, to make sure that the figure is as precise as it should be. To do this, I redrew the lines of the grid, and double checked the lines in the photo with the lines in my drawing. I had to make some adjustments, but definitely all for the better. I'm feeling a lot more confident in the figure now, and think that it made a big difference. There's still some fine tuning to do in the figure, and I didn't touch the chair today, which needs some adjustments. Next time.

I also started working on the background, which, although simple, was very interesting on the first pass. There are a lot of lights and darks in there.

Next week, I'll start fine tuning things a bit more. I'm guessing there's still 2-3 more sessions left in this painting.

Anyhow, here it is after two sessions. (probably about 5 hours total time so far.) I'm really enjoying taking photos of the progression, as I learn a lot comparing the paintings week to week.

I'm very pleased with the progress so far, and am excited to see what happens next! :)