Moving Along to Ugly Adolescence

Block-in completed.  This is an enjoyable process even if some things are dead wrong, because nothing is permanent and all feels possible.  Still dealing with chunkier shapes of flat color and exaggerated value.  It's the next stage where things start to get.... well, like an ugly adolescent.

Because you start paying attention to how you think it ought to be, you start pulling punches, fearful of making mistakes and wasting time and paint and canvas.  Bits and pieces move along at varying rates and out of synch, and you despair of ever getting through this stage and having things turn out.  You avoid some areas altogether (shadows) and completely overwork others (skin).  You have no clue what to do about the pavement. But, you are committed to finishing this weekend (and getting past using 2nd person narrative; first person feels like too much ownership at this stage).

Values Are Our Friends

A few years back I took workshops from 3 artists whose work I greatly admired.  Andy Evansen, Tom Francesconi, and Alvaro Castagnet each create very unique paintings but all exhibit a confidence and clarity in their paint application. They are superb mark-makers. They could put the right (e.g.,  correct value and color) mark down in the right place and the right time.  How did they do this?  Experience.  I understood this to mean figuring it out and practicing it until it was imbedded.  Hence the two value studies above, trying to gain experience in seeing shapes and designing the rectangle, and then to apply paint in the desired values.  No color at this point, just trying to get it organized.