Stage 2: Don't hate yourself

Alright so I lied. This is not actually stage 2. It is more like stage 2 1/2. I skipped stage 2 because I hate stage 2. It is the time in the painting where I feel like everything has gone wrong; the proportions have gotten off, the colours are not as vibrant as I want them to be, muddy even, and the likeness is pretty much gone. I painted over his nose and mouth twice before I got to where I could take a break. I hate leaving a painting in a state I am not okay with. Basically I feel like throwing the thing at the wall at this point.

Anyhow, this stage was a lot better. I remembered that I can actually use linseed oil and it makes everything easier as long as you don't use too much. I know, day one stuff, but after not painting for so long I had sort of forgotten.

At this stage I start to really have fun with colour. I read somewhere that I should lay out my pallet in the same way every single time I paint so that mixing will be more intuitive. I had started doing this when I was living in Los Angeles and it does help I think. I am not 100% sure yet.

There are certain colours I always use to make certain skin tones and shadows. I find that a mixture of two certain blues and one yellow makes a great blue-green for cooler tones without looking totally unreal. I suppose the idea of 'unreal' is pretty subjective. I use a lot of crazy colours that some would call ---- oh I forget the art school word for it, but they are not really 'accurate' according to most. In a way I agree but not fully; when I look at a person's skin I really do see all these colours. I see the blues and greens and purples and vermillion and yellow. It is there. Plain for the eye to see. Or maybe I am insane. Either way I like using a lot of colour. It makes the image seem more alive than if I stuck to traditional peaches, sepias, umbers and pinks. I did not always see these colours. I really feel like I had to learn to see them. I really should give credit to one of my painting teachers for this; Kerry Kim at Sheridan College. He really emphasized feeling the weight, form and volume of the thing you were painting. He also had us do some great experiments with reflected light. I used to use gouache exclusively back then...wow...yeah maybe I am insane.





Sorry the photos are so blurry. I wish I had a tripod.

So there it is. Sort of step 2. I put in big chunks of bright colour. Sometimes I think I take the colour too far and am not sure how I am going to tone it down and unify it. That is about what I felt right here. I tend to get caught up in the face, since it is the most interesting and fun part for me to paint. I have to force myself to stop in order to not overwork it.