Zaza II

So, as promised yesterday, I had another go at painting Zaza using the Artgraf colours.  I’ve used exactly the same pose but have made a change to the layout of the bands.  This time they’re equally sized and equally spaced in the background but when they go across the body they’re trying to create some sort of 3D effect by following curves.

The methodology and colours are unchanged from yesterday except for two changes:

– the stripes across the body, no longer being straight bands, were marked in pencil and I had to try to move the paint up to the edges myself

– for the stripes in the back, I also used pencil marks, so didn’t follow yesterday’s methodology of using a ruler to create a temporary mask along the edges.

Comparing this to yesterday’s painting, my observations are:

– the colours on the body and the dress are muted, maybe less saturated.  While I’m normally one for not holding back on the colours, I think I marginally prefer today’s to yesterday’s

–  I think I prefer the colours in yesterday’s background stripes though.  Today’s seem a bit washed out in comparison.

– while having properly spaced and lined up stripes in the background is an improvement, I think that the softening of the edges (both across the body and in the background) reduces the levels of excitement.

It’s hard to decide which of the two I prefer but I rate both of them as successes and worthy of places in the shop window.  In both of them, he folds in the dress are off the charts.

And I’m really starting to enjoy painting with these colours.  I need to think about whether I can use them for landscapes or portraits.  Either way, I may well keep coming back to these stripes, just because it helps discipline me into being careful with applying the water.