did lots today, very pleased with myself! photoshopped the photos that i chose, upping the contrast a bit so i get some good shadows, then printed them. i took loads of photos today, of the actual process, so you’ll be able to see it from the very beggining to the end. to transfer the image to the canvas i do a tracing using plastic and a black marker, going round the features, then pull up the sheet bit by bit, drawing in pencil the line, so then i have a rough idea of where everything is. this is a really importrant part of the process, because if i make a mistake at the stage, and don’t notice it, then, say, the eye might be a centimetre the wrong way and i might not notice until after i’ve painted it and that would be a disater! after that i paint in over the pencil with a browny green wash, adding some tones. then i put on the first layer of paint, wheich won’t be visable in the final piece but just acts as a base to put other colours on. i did that on the one of me, it looks like me which is a huge realief becuase the one of helen didn’t look like her for ages. hopefully these won’t cause me too much pain (famous last words!)
the one bad thing about today was that the canvas’s that i ordered for the skull paintings are too small, it’s my fault, for some strange reason i thought i wanted them to be six inches, when in fact they need to be ten, so i’ve placed another order.
i also did a bit more work on helen, not enough too warrant another photo, i’ll wait till its done before i put that up.
i did a mock up of the placement of the paintings in my degree show, as i mentioned before i’ve changed the order somewhat, i’ll put those photos on too…
