Miriam In Inktense Pencil

Today’s model is Miriam, making her debut.  I especially chose a pose that didn’t just have interesting shadow shapes buttons where shadows covered most of the face and I thought I could include the head in the painting without worrying about facial features and likenesses.  Just let the shadows do all the work.

I started in a monotone mood and had decided to use indigo in all the darkest places, softening it at the edges with bright blue if required and adding the odd lighter shadow in bright blue.  Before wetting the pencil marks, though, I had a change of heart.  Indigo in its own is one thing but when combined with bright blue everything looks a bit cold.  So I added some warm spots in poppy red. Normally, if I did something like this, there would be some plan behind it like putting red on everything facing in one direction or everywhere I could see red or a little warmth in the source photo.  But today I just put the red wherever I thought it looked good or wherever I thought the painting needed it.  Slowly but surely I’m becoming less of a slave to my sources and making decisions based on what would make a good painting.  I look forward to the day when I think this way when painting landscapes.

Am I pleased with the final result?  Yes!  Everything came out pretty close to what I was hoping for.  The red bits definitely liven things up and the painting is better for their presence.  And there are lost edges down Miriam’s left side, which I always like to include in a figure drawing.  Miriam’s up for sale.