Pool Shark Attack continued

I've had enough of this painting. I really don't think i can fix it up so i'll love it. Maybe if i took a fine brush and detailed the hands and face? But that's not going to happen. The law of diminishing returns rules.

another iteration


yet another iteration


finished

Yacht

I quite like this one. Even though the entire time i was looking at it as a horizontal. In fact i'd had enough of it and thought of it as a failure. But i thought i'd take a picture of it and upload it to istockphoto anyway in case someone wanted to use it for grunge texture, or something like that. But when veiwing it vertical like this, i really like it.

I planned on painting shapes, like i did for the bodhi tree, but in this case i'd paint repetitive triangles, thinking of sails. It really wasn't abstract enough in the beginning so i kept adding and subtracting layers many times and made some scratches and texture lines with a watercolor pencils until finally i was just through with it. It wasn't going where i'd hoped it would.

Looking at it vertical is a really happy accident.

Pool Shark Attack

For this painting i referred to a photo i took last year. In the photo you can obviously tell Danielle is on the pool table at my office, but it's not so obvious in this painting. I suppose that gives it a bit more mystery.



I don't think it's quite done. I will probably define the hands a little more and put a little more shading, particularly on the right of the face and body to give more roundishness and less flat looking. I also think the background needs some more reddishness near her arm and head; to give it a more bloody look. And the dress needs a strap on the left shoulder.

It took quite a few layers, as you can see in this video to decide the colouring and whether it would be more of a middle value or a very dark key.



The time lapse video was captured at 1 frame per second and the playback is at 15 frames per second. The actual painting time is around an hour and a half.

istockphoto

Uploading photos of my paintings to istockphoto.com may turn out to be a better idea than i expected. I only have a couple in istock's Vetta collection, but they're earning a nice little income.

I've probably earned more from them on istock than if i'd sold the originals. Especially the little 5x7 inch painting. That wouldn't have earned >$50 by selling the original. And i haven't incurred any shipping charge.

By taking photos of a painting's progress, i can also avoid the issue of ruining a painting by continually trying to improve it. Jackie always says, "leave it alone!" But i'm not completely satisfied, and it turns out worse than it was. By capturing it along the way, some pre-finished version might be quite sellable on istockphoto.

I suppose people are buying from istock so they can print and hang for their interior design.

Torso

I painted this from a photo i liked. But first I manipulated the photo in photoshop until it was quite abstract. Then i painted from the manipulated photo.

Because i used a long sheet of paper, i think the proportions are a little too elongated. I might squish the height of a photo of my painting if i upload it to istockphoto. Or maybe not?

Bodhi Tree continued

I've added some more squares, trying to fill out the tree's foliage a bit more. Trying to keep a careful eye on balance. It's at the point where it won't give up the stains via my wet lifting technique. So not much can be removed, only added. I think it's pretty much finished. Unless i walk by it and see a gaping hole out the corner of my eye.

I like the painting. Don't "love" it. Perhaps i'll like it more when it's framed with a white matte?

Bodhi Tree continued

Lastnight I worked on the same sheet of paper that seemed ruined on Sunday. I tried to add colour blocks to represent the big areas of leaves on a tree. I wetted the paper and lifted the old paint and painted in the new yellow or blue. I thought this piece was beyond repair, but now i'm quite liking it again.

I think there is too much negative space around the tree in the sky area, but i plan to crop over that area with the matte from the frame i have in mind.

I'm not sure if it's done now? I think i'll have to walk by it and glimpse it, or put it upside down to see if it seems balanced.

The actual painting doesn't have as much pop or saturation as this photo. But it may look better in the photo and i'm going to upload it to istockphoto, so i didn't dial down the colour saturation to make a truer representation of the painting.

Bodhi Tree

I've been asked by Joanie to make a painting. Cool!

Unfortunately i've been having a hard time getting something to be happy about. I initially wanted to do something drippy and fill in all the negative white space thereafter. This is crazy intensive for a big piece. But i spent some time trying it. When i got to the sky space around the tree, i really liked the little dots created from lifting the wet paint with a dry brush. The sky was a similar look as another painting Joanie liked.

So i thought i'd try to extend this wet and lifting technique into the dripped tree area. Perhaps i did it too much? But it wasn't turning out. Unfortunately painting doesn't have an undo button, so i just had to keep going forward. I even got a pallet knife involved with some scraping.

I think this piece of paper is beyond ever reaching a satisfactory state and i'll have to start with a blank sheet again.