Another Monet

Well, I didn't work on any art yesterday because it was our anniversary. YaY, twenty-four years! If you're new to my blog you can read about us here.  It's a re post of a post, but the sentiment is still the same.

We had a quiet day, ate lunch at a little barbecue place and watched old black and white movies together at home.

Last week I started another Monet painting, just to practice the technique.  I enjoyed your suggestions on the next one to do and even Peri's suggestion of using this technique on one of my own photos.  I'm having so much fun I'm sure all the suggestions will become paintings and yes, I'll send it to my very special friends that suggested each one...cause that's how I roll.

Back to the matter at hand, I thought it would be fun to post the steps that I used to create my copy of one of the versions of Claude Oscar Monet's "Woman With A Parasol".  Actually the reason I chose this one for my next practice piece, is the fact that there is no detail in the face and I like the wiggle room that this style affords me.

So here we go...

 In stage one, I drew the outline of the woman holding the umbrella.  To do this I traced the picture from my book onto vellum and then used the grid method to enlarge and transfer it to my sheet of watercolor paper whichI had measured out and taped down to my piece of Masonite board. It's a fairly easy process.

Next I blocked in some shadows and clouds and such...

Here I have really tried to begin developing the sky.  I worked on this for a long time, probably longer than necessary, but I was having fun.

This is the version that was almost complete.  In order to see where there are glaring mistakes, it's a good idea to either take a photo of your painting and look at it on the digital screen, or if you are still holding out and haven't gone digital...sit down with the painting to your back and using a large hand held mirror, look into the mirror at the painting behind you, basically from a different point of view.  It really helps to see things like clouds that need reshaping, or a dark area that draws too much attention to itself, thus moving your eye in the wrong direction.

Here is the final version.  I did some finishing glazing with a grayish blue watery paint to push the sky and clouds back a bit more behind the subject and decided it was done.  Knowing when a painting is done is one of the challenges that I often have.

Well, hope you liked this little tutorial of my progress.  I'm chomping at the bit to do something else, so it's back to the drawing board for me.  Hee hee, get it?