Alaina

[Denise Hall]

Hi everyone,

I have been mustering up the nerve to post this portrait in progress which I have been painting on 3 sessions. It is from a photo which I will post later today due to a technical problem.


The portrait is oil on linen 30" x 24" and my main problem is probably easy to see. The shadows and I wrestle. The digital seems to be more colorful than my actual picture. Her shirt will be white and as you can see I have changed the neckline. I painted portraits of Alaina from two other photos from this shoot and just wanted to change her shirt a little. It will still be white. The shadow in the photo is extremely dark, as you will soon see so I have had to really pull the color out.

I am interested in getting feedback from you guys so please feel free to critique. The paint is still workable and I really do have technical problems with using glazes once the paint starts to get too dry. I know its inevitable but try, like I have been taught, to do as much as possible without the use of any medium. I will be using megilp when I do.

I began with a charcoal drawing using the sight size method; taking Sharon Knettell's advice to blow up the photo reference as large as possible and keeping it beside my easel. It has helped immensely with accuracy. I sprayed lightly with krylon charcoal spray to preserve the drawing. No underpainting was done.

I will post the photo reference by tonight as well as some more in process pictures if anyone is interested. I took some at the beginning, and again a little further along. This is where I am right now and stumped at my next step.

Thank you all for your feedback!