Cross-Legged Jenni

For my second effort today, I’m back to Jenni for the third time.

I picked a pose that didn’t have much shadow to it in the hope that I could make this more about jazzy colours than about shadows.  So after laying down the initial drawing, I started adding some colour with a yellow, a red and a blue.  I then went over some of the more important contours with a brush but then put the brush down and picked up a wet bit of kitchen roll instead.  And I wet the rest of the paper with the kitchen roll, sometimes in dabs and sometimes in extended strokes.

And the picture I ended up with was missing something.  I see now why I keep coming back to the indigo and violet.  I need those dark tones to prevent the pictures from looking washed out.  So I left it to dry, then darkened all the shadows with indigo and/or violet.  I also added an outline in charcoal grey, which I felt was something the drawing needed.  And then I wet everything with a brush.  This included wetting the outline and trying to drag it into the background to reduce its harshness.

End result?  Nah.  I’m not really feeling this one.  Dark outlines aren’t good, especially on paintings like this where I’m cutting corners on the hands and feet.  This one won’t be going in the shop window.  I have my standards.

It’s not been my greatest arty day today.