Sep 20 - Continuing the Chicken Girl

I mentioned that this painting is falling off my brushes, and it certainly seems so tonight. I've been working on some of the color notes in the girl's dress, the three lower chickens and the white bird. I'm especially pleased with how the light is coming through the tail on that one, and included a detail image of that part of the painting so you can see how it is done. Cools, with yellow ochre and then going to the warms where the light actually is on the edges. Fun to do! That Color System makes it easy. Who would have thought to put the ochre there? And yet it works.

I've been listening to the Rolling Stones. Somehow soothing to reach into one's past and listen to the beat of those (now) ancient rockers--connecting a lifeline to survival mode. Painting is an escape, a return to knowledge and certainty for me. "Let me please introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste...."

Too bad there isn't a horse in this painting, I might think it ought to go to the American Academy of Equine Art show. I'm having so much fun making GOOD paintings lately.

Here's the detail shot of the unfinished white chicken. You can see how I first put in the larger color notes to hold down the shapes. Of course, the shadowed sides are the Cool Box, and the sunlit edges are from the Warm Box in the Color System! I'll come back and put in the blends, calligraphic marks, and wrap this painting up in the next few days.

My love for painting is only superseded by my gratitude for my dear and close friends out here in cyberspace. Thanks for coming along on this journey with me--you are very special right now!

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