I have been ignoring the little voice in the back of my head informing me daily that this painting needs some radical fixing, at least in the head of the subject. Today I could not stand it another minute so I went back to remeasure and reconsider the placement of the head in this portrait. Too small in the nose, too big in the eyes and then I had to decided how it was actually sitting on the neck. My reference photos show her torso one way and the head another way, but I have reversed things so now I have to make it work without having the actual model in front of me. I have moved the head over and resized my reference photo. Then I put a light coat of quick dry white over the face. Once it has dried I can redraw the features and repaint the face. I am very annoyed about it but I would be more annoyed, like for the rest of my life, if I didn't fix this. I just moved on to finishing the hands and that put me back in a good mood as they look better now. Sometimes you just don't see the forest for the trees.
Kudos for going the extra mile and for being willing to share this with us.
ReplyDelete-Don
I know you are probably right but I didn't notice anything wrong until you wrote about it. If I had a large bird in my arm, I would tilt my head back a bit like in your original. The nose, now that you mention it, could be a tad larger. Other than that, I really love her look but when she is finished to your liking, I'm sure I'll agree that it is better. I didn't know you could use a white out on oils?
ReplyDeleteYes..you must be happy with your painting now or you'll be haunted forever.
Thanks for sharing, I love watching your progress on this piece. All I keep thinking is how brave you are.
ReplyDeletei have thoroughly enjoyed reading your updates... in particular watching this piece progress. i admit, i LOVE seeing that you've made an error for i can learn so much by watching how you handle this! i know it's a lot of work to change it, but it's fascinating from this seat! good luck with it and thank you ever so much for sharing your process. your creations are spectacular!
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