Steve
 

Hi, it's been a while since I've done a person, so thought I better have someone look over my shoulder. This is Steve, Jaque's son and a good friend of ours. It's 40" x 30", oil on canvas.

He's a self-employed carpenter, and plays Santa every year, dyes his beard and eyebrows white for the season and visits children all over our area. He's as much of a character as his mother was.

I am putting him outdoors, with wood, and in a sunny location, fall with all its colors seemed appropriate for his personality. A coffee cup may go on the bench next to him. I've toned the canvas and many areas are not painted at all yet, and these first layers are very thin.

I'm using Daniel Greene's palette from the "Artist's Magazine' so will be rereading the thread on him. I need two palettes to mix all the paint and so far it's taken 1.5 hours just to get ready! So please advise if necessary, and thank you for looking.

Jean

P.S. His reference photo is in the photo critique section. I'll post it here when I can get it back in my photo program. He also comes over often for life work.

This looks interesting so far Jean - great character. I am not able to see what is going on with his hand closest to us though. Is there something in his fingers?

Hi Kim,

Yes he's holding his big, fat, ever present, stogie. He doesn't smoke it when playing Santa though. Sometimes it's lit, most times it's not. His hand will make more sense when all the parts are in.

I tried using the mix of Alizarin Crimson and Sap Green for the warm shadows and don't like it at all. It seems too warm and violet. I may have mixed it wrong so will try again or use something else. (3/4 AC +1/4 SG)

My foreground is not going to be that intense green (Sap Green) it has many grasses poking up through the bench and table, also on the left side. I'm just trying it as a "base" color. I'm doing this as a freebie, so can experiment as much as I want. Steve is providing me with wood scraps to paint on, sanding services, and other misc. stuff, so I can have some fun with this one.

Jean

ps, I'll be fixing his deformed cheek (his left) today.

Jean, you mentioned wanting to get the reference photo in here, so I figured I'd copy it into the thread. Hope this is the right one:

Hi Steven,

Yes that's it, thank you!

Last night I must have been possessed by the evil color painting demon, so will be wiping out much today. Maybe this palette has too many colors for me! I'll post again when it no longer has the potential to cause heart attacks.

Jean

Hi again,

Well, I'm muddling my way around this painting in my normal scattered way. Done more work on his face, I'm using a different reference for his facial features. The reference is very poor for his face due to the shadowed area (under the porch). He also has changed glasses so wanted his new ones in the painting. He'll be here for the Super Bowl tomorrow so I plan to work on his left elbow and arm, I will put him in the pose with his elbow resting on a table to get a better feel for the weight of his arm and table angle.

The area under the table will be quite dark, with golden grasses peeking out. The grasses continue to the left side of the canvas and will break up the blocky square feel of the bench against the side of the canvas. The strong parallel line at the bottom of the bench will be broken up.

His left nostril is too low, and I'll be fixing that. I find this palette to be confusing right now and have been struggling with temperature in skin tones. I'll be changing the violet tint of the shadows to a green tint. I hope this makes some sense. I had used the alizirin crimson/sap green mix to create warm shadows and did not like it at all. (Hence the heart attack issue) so I'm back square one.

Jean

Oops! Photo didn't post.

This is the reference for his facial features.

Jean

I seem to be having some problems posting images today, I'll be back in later.

Hello again,

I'm still struggling along with this palette, but am doing better. At least he's not a strange shade of violet anymore. I have a lot of work to do on values in his face. As I wrote before, I'm not using the actual photo ref posted for his face due to the heavy shadow.

I'm working all over the canvas, and there are still areas that have no paint at all. And the Sap Green has been toned way down.

Jean

A little closer. The photo posted too dark and with too much contrast, so I brightened a decreased the contrast on this one. Hopefully it will be more true to the original. Steve will be over tonight to "smoke his stogie" so I can try to capture the smoke and color of a lit cigar. These are a very deep brown Nicaraguan cigar and one of the few that actually smell quite nice.

The earlier pgoto also looked too red.

Jean

Hello,

I've been working on Steve's face today. I really missed my Naples yellow and permanent rose, so have veered from the palette and added them. Steve's face has many rose tones in it and I've become frustrated with too many colors to choose from. So this experiment is a bust. I'll try again on a face that has less hair.

Jean

That was a good call, Jean, to exchange the table top for the bench back slats. I think it was going to take some kind of mystic perspective on the slat(s) to get them under the arm and "explain" the posture.

As you noted earlier, you're inventing the light and landscape setting. Though this seems to be a bright day with lots of ambient light, there is nonetheless a very definite directional light pattern established (as, by the bright light on the shirt on our left, and the deep darks underneath the table). Keep a picture in your mind of how that light will affect all other parts of the painting, especially the figure and his clothing. Just to point to one area, I might expect the cast shadow on his shoulder to be a little darker, especially where it is closer to the head. The v-shadow under the collar (the area that wouldn't be there if this were a button-down) would probably be darker still. The shadow on that same side in the armpit area, again perhaps darker.

I'm typing offline (internet connection hassles) and I've inadvertently only copied the close-up, but there's opportunity to do the same thing, I think, in the landscape. For example, again taking the directional light to be generally from our left to right, there's good cause to make sure the ground-level foliage and lower tree-trunk area on the shoreline to our left is good and dark, unambiguously shadowy. Those trees still have their leaves and that low-angled light isn't getting very far down into them. (At least in the made-up landscape I'm visualizing.)

This attention to even small areas of value will, I think, help with the push and pull that will give the forms some dimension -- advancing, receding, going around, looking "solid".

And you're right, the sap green can be overpowering, particularly in landscapes. (You'd think something called "sap green" would be perfect, wouldn't you?) In fact, tubed greens are often difficult in this application. Experiment with mixes of your various blues and yellows. (I know that the book says they "Don't Make Green," but they do.)

Okay, we're going to try him again. Thank you for deleting the previous pink Steve, hopefully this one will be better.

Steven, thanks for the suggestions on deepening shadows, I will do that. The background landscape is not imaginary, but from a photo I took last fall. The lighting is very much like Steve's photo, I just haven't done much work on it. The foreground grasses are all lit from low left, and the background trees will make more sense. I only wanted the colors for ref for now. The landscape photo is on disc, I'll post it after I find it. The bench and picnic table came from another area in the park, lighting is wrong on that, but I'll try to fudge through when I get back there.

I spent tonight on his arms and hands and will post after I get a decent photo. These are critical for what I want to show about him and I'm purposely showing the heavy viening and gnarled look to them. I've never painted the fine hair on arms, so I guess I'm going to learn. Steve doesn't want shaved arms.

A while back I made myself do a painting of a longhorn steer, my assignment was to use no prepared brown or green. I learned a lot on that and will stay away from the sap green for the remainder of this one. I'll post it if Cynthia will approve an "animal".

;)

Jean

Here's the reference photo that I'm using for Steve's features and new glasses.

It must just have never posted, Jean, as I haven't (and wouldn't) delete an image. Sometimes, too, an image doesn't load when you access a thread, and a "refresh" will bring it up. Other than that, any disappearances will have to remain a mystery.

We'll probably have to pass on the longhorn here, but there are more than a few "enthusiastic" UT boosters within several hundred miles of me who would no doubt be interested in it.

Hi Steven,

No mystery (except to you), Linda Brandon deleted it and sent an email to me. Everything is cool.

Too bad about the longhorn, maybe I could have my grandson riding it.

Jean

Back to Steve.

I spent yesterday on his shirt and the left side of the background. I've also done a lot on his arms and hands. The smoke from the cigar will "waft" to the left over the water and up.

Steven, I was afraid to get the background colors too intense so have neutralized them some. Do I need to go more? Also, Steve always travels with a coffee cup, I'm still debating whether to add a soft rust colored mug on the bench in front of him.

Jean

Here's the photo reference of the setting for Steve. I've changed it some, to accommodate a vertical composition. You may be able to see the grasses in the foreground, I will be adding some of them when I get to that area in the painting. This is a park close to Devil's Lake here in Wisconsin. A ferry runs daily across the Wisconsin river near here and it's one of our favorite places. We've been known to ride the ferry back and forth over and over just for fun.

Jean

Hello all,

Well, I'm getting down to the nitpicking. I've decided against the coffee cup, there is enough in this already. I'll be back on his face today, repairing the glasses, completeing eyebrows, reconsidering his eyes. I've made them too large, but with all this hair covering his face I'm wondering if they should stay larger than life size in order to be seen! I'm going to change the shape of the head (beard and hair), I don't like the very round look of it.

I also don't care for the uniformity of the trees in the left background, so I'll mess them up a bit. It doesn't "read" right to me.

Well, this is where I am now. Any suggestions welcomed, and thank you for looking.

Jean

:sunnysmil

Hi all,

I hope this shows up okay. I've started to decrease the intensity of the background, left side. As Steven mentioned, that side is in shadow, with the right side catching more light. Do I need to neutralize it more? It still looks pretty intense.

I'll be rounding out his left arm more and possibly decreasing the size of the forearm, he looks like Popeye.

There will also be more of the brighter golds and greens in the foreground. And the cigar smoke will be more dense, and float to the right. I know that I've created a strong parallel line to the left and off the canvas with his pose (the legs and arm position). I'm going to try to counteract this with the foreground grass and cigar smoke drawing the eye back to the right and his face. This pose is so like Steve that I had to use it. Steven Sweeney said in another post somewhere that we recognize people not only by their face but there stance. I would recognize Steve from this pose from 100' away.

Jean

I'm back to Steve's face again. His glasses were not the same size, eyes were too far apart, and his mouth too high. I've had fun with all the hair, different textures and colors. I'm repairing the very dark area on the shadow side of his nose, I'll be lightening it, and his left eye still looks off to me.

Jean

Hi,

I decreased the size of Steve's eye (left) again, and finally he looks okay. Last night I had too much fun with the lumps, bumps, veins, etc. in his left arm. I wanted to exaggerate his arms but may have gone too far. I still have to add hair though so I'm unsure.

Jean

There are shadows on the upper canvas, please disregard.

Looking pretty good, Jean. I

Thanks Steven,

I'll do everything you mentioned on the background today. This is the first time I've tried using raw umber and ivory black to create the shadow areas. This may account for the lack of contrast. In all my other experiments I've used a compliment which really bumped up the vibrancy compared to this one. It was probably a poor choice for an outdoor scene, but I learned a lot. Instead of using a violet for the shadow area of the shirt (underarm), I added raw umber to deepen the color. In the bluejeans I used ivory black for the shadows and folds, again I would have used violet, pthalo green, and burnt sienna for the darks. There is also more sinking in, which I don't get using compliments, so varnish will be mandatory on this one.

All in all though this has been enjoyable and very informative. I've struggled more with color on this one than any other I've done, forcing myself to stick with the pigments I chose. Raw umber has been my least used pigment, I've come to appreciate it more.

Thanks Steven, I always value your opinion.

Jean

And we have color!

Yesterday I watched this portrait come to life as I deepened the sky and water. When Tom (my husband ) walked in from work he stopped immediately and commented that he didn't know what I'd done, but it looked so different and so alive that he was amazed.

What do you think, Steven?

Jean

Wonderful. Made a huge difference, didn't it.

Can't say it too many times -- color gets the credit, but value does the work.

Congratulations. I think you've got a keeper.

Thanks so much Steven.

Okay, okay, value not color. I meant that with increasing the value of the sky and water, Steve just seemed to pop off the canvas. This posted a litle dark, but I'm sure you can see the huge difference. Adding the lighter grasses and leaves around the figure will also bring him right up front.

Cheers and more cheers!

Jean

Yes, I understood, and I was oversimplifying. Of course the new look is a product both of the adjustment in values and the intensifying of some of the color. The important point is that both of these alterations worked to increase contrast, which created depth -- which is what you needed here, in this landscape piece.

Time for a cold Leiney, don't you think?

A celebration is in order! Chocolate is on the menu.

Jean

Hello all,

Except for tweaks, I'm all done. I can see that I need to work on his right arm, the highlights look more like a washboard than an arm. And the top of his left hand still doesn't look right. I'm happy with the landscape though, thank you Steven.

Jean

Hopefully this post for color accurately. It's sunny today with lots of snow, I seem to have problems with consistent color reproduction. Maybe it's time I learned how to use the white balance adjustment on my camera instead of the preset cloudy, auto, daylight etc. In my photo program this is close to the original. But when posted often the saturation is way too high.

Jean,

I really like this. It has a style that is all yours.

Thanks Kim,

"Style " is so hard to define. I want to paint like Bill Whitaker, Chris Saper, Marvin Mattleson, etc etc. But I seem to end up with this when I don't have to please the customer. Lots of hair and muscles!

Jean

While the forum was down I did a lot on Steve. All nitpicky, increased contrast in the shirt, bluejeans, and his arms. I'm trying to round his arms out more, but don't like the color of the darker line on his right arm.

Jean

I'm finally getting his hands to look like hands of a working man instead of claws. His left hand is starting to look accurate. I'll be working on his right today. As I was painting away I managed to increase the size of this hand, so I cut it back last night. He looked like a cull (lobster with a deformed claw). When I lived in Boston we went to the docks and bought lobsters with funky claws for $4.00 a lb. That was a long time ago.

Jean

Test

I've been having a horrible time trying to compress images to the target size. My wonderful husband has helped me (he's looking over my shoulder) and it has finally posted. Now if I can only figure out what he did! The image looks way too intense, I'll be back in later, severe frustration has set in. I consider this painting completed.

Jean

Jean,

All graphics programs have an option when you save the file as a jpg to select the compression level. It will be there somewhere when you click "file save."

Cynthia

But, but, but... I'm on a Mac! I do everything the easy way and this has changed my routine. We had to find out where the compression tool was (a separate program). Before, I was able to do everything in my very simple IPhoto program. I still haven't learned Photoshop so that's not an option right now. Things should go better now.

Jean

In Photoshop, all you need to do is open the file and then do a "file | save as" - give it a new name and it takes you right to the compression selection as you go through the save process.

Many of the images on the site were needlessly huge. With the accumulation over time, eventually, the Forum would have to have it's own hard drive.

I wasn't really complaining Cynthia, I understand about all that stuff, I was just whining about having to learn something new. Old dogs and new tricks!

We're going to try Steve again, hopefully this one looks better.

I made some major changes on this, mainly palette. I went back to the complimentary colors that I love so much. Repainted all skin, the shirt and jeans, and softened the background more. I also raised his eyebrows and eyes and moved the eyes further apart. The photo of the whole painting has some glare on the darker values so I added a close-up of his face to show the darks on the shadow side.

Jean

Jean,

I admire your tenacity and I think you have done yourself a huge favor by changing your palette. There was too much color sameness throughout in the previous posts.

I have a couple of comments that you can ponder. The differences I see have to do with the fact that you have taken your subject from one lighting situation and placed him in to another. More particularly, in the reference the man is under a porch, lit from the front with shadows created by the dark side of the porch.

You have in some respects translated this lighting scheme into your outdoor painting. The direct light we see on the mans hands and forearms in the photo, taken literally into the painting, now look like highlights. In your outdoor scene there would be much more ambient light that would create a more homogeneous lighting effect.

I would look at his painted left arm going up from just above the wrist, the way you have handled the shifts and tone, and I would try and replicate that scheme all the way down to his finger tips. Reducing the some of the contrasty value shifts that I think would not be present with outdoor ambient light.

Next, in the photo, if you will notice the dark values under the hands, these are the result of both the lack of ambient light (the dark side of the porch as taken this away) and the want of a photograph to intensify dark values. I would lighten this area up and maybe replace with a bit of blue reflected light. Maybe, for the same reasons, a bit on the underside of his jeans as well.

I hope this helps, best of luck.