"Speakeasy" Painting!!

Yay! I had a painting session with Dean today for the first time since early February.

Today, I worked first on the bartender. The bartender in the original photo was mostly blocked from view and not adding any interest to the painting. The next bartender I had painted was from a photo that I had taken at another speakeasy. He was standing straight up and looked very stiff in my painting. Dean found a photo of another painting he had done with a server that we decided to model my new bartender off of. I really like that he is in more of an action pose, and that he is wearing more traditional bistro/bartender clothing.

Next, I worked on the light reflection in to bottom right corner of the painting, brightening it up from what it had been before.

I also added all of the liquor bottles on the shelf under the large windows. I tried to make them loose without too much detail.

Finally, and probably what I'm most proud of, I added three faces! The bartender, and the two patrons towards the back of the painting. I think I finally managed to get just the right amount of detail without distracting from the rest of the painting. Yay

I'm not sure yet, but I think I may have completed the painting today. I'm going to look at it with fresh eyes at my next session and decide. There may be tiny additions to make, or I may decide that it is done.