Almost six months into this crazy alternate reality that is Life in Lockdown, doesn’t it feel like we’re all driving down a lonely highway in the middle of the night? We know that we’ll eventually end up at our destination (safe and sound, hopefully), but until then, while we’re still in transit… it can all seem a little frightening. Stay safe, everyone!
The time has come to set aside landscapes and dive back into portraiture!
And wouldn’t you know it? I got so used to landscapes that I found this portrait to be a bit more of a challenge than I had anticipated. This image represents a few days of work, at least! Of course, I walked into it thinking “I’ll just keep it fresh, and loose, and, you know… painterly” and, well, THAT went out the window pretty quickly. I think it’s a leftover reaction to my art school days when we never had enough time to finish anything, and even if we did, we were always discouraged from painting anything that looked too realistic (“skillful”, some might say). With no teachers or peers around me, I can noodle to my heart’s content – and so I do!
Anyways, this is Yola, a model with a Russian modelling agency called Lumpen. Their entire roster is comprised of Real People, which I think is very cool.
I often think to myself that it would be so much easier if I could a) get excited about drawing buildings (haven’t really tried, but you never know – I might find I love it!), and b) not mind that I can’t see any horizon line. I’m a city-dweller, but I don’t find artistic inspiration in cities – because, honestly, how could cities ever compare with the St-Lawrence river and great big, puffy clouds?
I’ve fallen a bit behind with my landscape studies, and just when I had turned a corner with them, too! At this point, they were getting more and more complicated, and more than one lunch-hour to finish. Even so, I made a conscious decision NOT to fuss with the reflections on the water in the foreground. The result is what I like to call “good from far, and far from good”. I am very happy with the blue shading on those mountains, though!
One aspect of my landscape paintings that I’d like to improve is the sense of space and depth. I suspect that I’m too easily led astray by my crystal-clear reference photographs, such as this one, below:
So of course, this means that I have to do studies! Here is that same scene, but broken down in 3-D lineart…
… then simplified to 4-5 grey values…
… and finally, a detailed value study!
I can’t say I’m %100 satisfied with the mountain in the background, but those foreground trees and that road really pop! Full disclosure: I actually broke my own rule and used all kinds of crazy Photoshop brushes to create the pine trees. The more of these landscape studies I do, the more I move away from traditional media and embrace the digital.
EMMA PITTSON 