BethR

The four colours in there today are deep indigo, bright blue, Persian red and leaf green.  After putting down the pencil outline, I started in the darkest of dark places with indigo, extending this into places that still looked dark with the blue.  I then went over the medium toned areas with the red and put a little of the red over the blue and indigo in places.  At this point I felt I needed another colour so brought in the green, going over some hidden edges that I didn’t want to be hidden and generally adding some colour to the right side of all the 3D shapes.

After wetting all the marks with water I was a bit disappointed with how pale everything came out.  I don’t think it’s me being more disciplined about how I put down the dry marks: it’s as if I’m using a different paper to normal.  Maybe I screwed up in my last order.  Anyway, I added a second layer of colour.  I did this not too long after wetting the first layer: things dried so quickly that I’m even more convinced I’m using different paper to usual.  In the second layer, I used more of the blue and indigo to darken shadows that were too light and added red over lots of the green bits that weren’t looking in harmony with the rest of the painting.  And after wetting the second layer of marks, that was me done.

There’s really not much to say about this one.  It’s going up for sale but it feels like a painting that I’ve done hundreds of times before.  My figure drawing is becoming samey and that worries me.