Developing New Painting Process 2

Spent 3 hours on computer to come up with the second picture based on the charcoal drawing I did. Aside from the model itself, the setting is just out of my head. That is not bad, giving me freedom to do whatever I want to do with the composition. Not completely happy with it.
I worked hard today, spending another 3 hours to come up with the first composition. I do not like the heavy stripe on the right side of the model, and the composition does not feel tight. The back of the seat needs to be more upright. The new one seems better. I am tired now. I will sit on these two for a few days and perhaps try other options.

Developing New Painting Process

Finally got rid of the terrible cough that lasted more than 2 weeks. Eager to start painting in the new year.
It is difficult to develop a painting using these public open studio sessions. You don't have much control over the pose of the model. Usually, there is no "setting", just the model. You carry whatever the canvas/materials not knowing what you will be seeing. And the short time you have at these studio, usually 3 hours with breaks, does not allow you to do some thinking and experimenting on composition. Since I got the computer painting tools, I am developing a new process: (1) Do charcoal quick studies of the model in the open studio, (2) Use computer painting to study possible compositions, (3) If satisfied with the composition, transfer the computer painting to the canvas, (4)finish the painting in the open studio if the pose is multi-session. These two drawings are done in a 3 hour session, 2 hours for the pose and 1 hour for the portrait. I will start the second step of computer studies. At this stage, I still don't know whether I can have a satisfactory composition deserving going forward. Having written a 3-part analysis of Richard Diebenkorn in Chinese in a blog set up by my friend Jason, (click here 1, 2, 3 if interested) the drawing is obviously influenced by him.

Seated Nude

Back to doing Acrylic. This was done in two 3 hour seating and some studio work. So, I can mix spontaneity and deliberate paint applications. I changed the posture of her right shoulder and arm to achieve more dynamic composition. That caused me to change the left arm and hand, as well as the shadow on her right shoulder. I think I managed to make it convincing. I really like the glazing in acrylic medium. It creates the color that is quite rich, and it can be done without waiting days as in oil painting.

Continuing Computer Painting

Trying some abstraction based on a picture.

Morandi 2 - Juxtapose

These few have horizontal composition broken by the white jar. The jar looks like a church among the houses in an Italian village. Another common theme is to have a color object sandwiched between white objects. Again, click at the picture to see the detail and to appreciate the color.

Morandi Show 1 - Horizontal

We spent more than a week in NY. We were showing my sister in law around. So, we can only spend one and half hours on Morandi Show when we went to Metro. There are so many others to show them. Even though the time was short, we thoroughly enjoyed the 100 or so of his work. Each is like a jewel in itself. They allowed no flash photo. So, I took advantage and took many pictures to share with you. Although I just have a point and shoot camera, some of his yummy colors can still be seen in my picture. Please click on the image to see the details and the color.

These are a few pictures of his pursue of horizontal composition. Notice the edge of the table is intentionally lined up with the top line of the objects. He originally painted tall boxes and jars in the third picture. He didn't like it. Do, he took a scissor and cut the upper part off, and pasted it on another canvas. Notice the corner of the table on the left and the unknown vertical strip on the right edge. They make the picture much more interesting. Who cares about being "real"?

Lady in Hat

This is a small acrylic painting done in one sitting and some studio work afterward. Again, I am disappointed with my camera in conveying the colors I tried hard to work out. hm...Probably should invest in a better one.