Brie, Relaxed

I started off shading Brie in willow, with some apple green and tangerine in places and poppy red in her extremely red hair.  I’m still convinced that there’s lots of green in her skin tone.  The background curtains were done in charcoal grey and the foreground cloth in indigo.  I was convinced this colour scheme would be a winner.

When it came to adding the water, though, I was really disappointed.  First the willow dried to a much lighter brown than I was expecting (which I’d have known if I’d actually looked at my swatches).  So light that it couldn’t compete with the foreground, let alone the hair.  And the whole one colour scheme for the model and separate individual colours for the foreground and background wasn’t working.

So after leaving the work to dry, I tinkered.  First I added more shading to Brie with bark colour.  Then more shading to the foreground cloth with charcoal grey.  Then I added outlines, first in willow (will I ever learn?), then in bark.  The colours now hang together reasonably well.

The colours are good but for once the best bit about this is the head.  That eyelash is the focal point of the whole painting , making Brie look real and adding a little bit of sex appeal.  Unfortunately, though, her feet are a bit too small.  And some people will find that a turnoff.

Still, Brie’s up for sale.