When I started painting today I was bitching to myself because I just couldn’t find the brushes that I wanted to use. Wow, it was like they’d all worn out all at once….

These are the same size brushes – the one on the right is brand new and the one on the left is ??? old. When they’re worn out like that they just don’t paint the same. To this day my mother complains about how often she had to buy me paint when I was a teenager…..yes, mother, paint tubes run out and brushes wear down. The funny thing about brushes is that it usually takes me a while before I realize that a brush should be discarded. Usually I complain for awhile – thinking that it’s my inability to paint – when really, it’s the brush’s inability to perform it’s task once it’s worn down. …..and yes, someday I’ll sort through my brushes and throw out the useless ones.

The hardest part about glazing over an underpainting is that for a day or two the skin tones look really really sickly….and it’s hard to resist the temptation to start painting on thickly which would defeat the entire idea of doing an underpainting. In the last few months  I must have either  1) learned patience or 2) learned how to glaze -  because this time I’m willing to go slowly and build up thin layers of color. My vote is for #2.  Also, I think that the extremely fine canvas that I’m painting on now makes the skin tones look better – it almost looks like soft, smooth skin. Another thing about glazing over an underpainting is that you can get the eyes to look great – glazing makes the irises look very detailed. and you can be more subtle about adding in the red of the blood close to the surface.

When I glazed color onto the arms I applied the color in lines and then fan brushed the colors to blend them. The arm on the left is blended; the one on the right shows the lines. The lightest color is cadmium red light/naples yellow/white, the shadow is permanent blue violet, and the deeper skin tone is burnt sienna. I stroked the fan brush in the direction of the hair on my arms! In order words – not straight up-and-down and not straight side-to-side – but rather, in an upward sweep.

I love painting tubes of paint – it’s so much fun to make them look all squished up and messy. Remember: lighter colors come forward and darker colors go back. So to create the dent in the red paint tube I painted the dent prussian blue/black/white and the top of the tube is  mostly white/prussian blue. Always remember to make a shadow under them to make them appear as though they’re sitting on the tabletop.

Really hated the blue background and it made the skin tones look very sickly. Started painting over it very thinly with mixtures of cadmium red light/naplesyellow and straight cadmium yellow medium. I did it very unevenly so that some atmosphere was created. When I first started painting it on, I wasn’t sure i liked it, but found the finished  background very interesting. Strange thing is – it made the skin tones POP and I look much healthier!

The painting is far from finished, but I’m starting to like it. There’s a certain look  about it which screams ILLUSTRATION !!! And I don’t mind that a bit…..

I’m working on these small 16×20″ paintings to use on greeting cards and maybe, hopefully, on calendars or magnets. And then it dawned on me……I could use myself to create a character for character licensing. I’ve thought of doing that with some other people I’ve photographed, but it never occurred to me to make myself the character………hmmm….could I be the next Dilbert?