J Wrapped in Pink

J Wrapped in Pink

January 25, 2009

16" x 20"

Oil on Board

J Wrapped in Pink was mostly painted during a model session I had at the studio on the 15th of this month. I loved the painting and it was an incredible model session. I went to look at the painting the next day with my husband. We both noticed that there was something lacking in the painting, that the painting had the potential to be more, but we could not figure out what was actually 'wrong' with it. I figured it out last night. I pushed the dark tones in the figure darker and therefore defining areas such as the limbs and it gave the figure more depth. I glazed over the blue cloth including the shadows cast in the background. This flattened the surface a bit, so that the texture in the blue cloth didn't take away or compete with the figure. Then I put another glaze over the pink wrap which gave it an intense vibrant feel, which is more true to the actual cloth ( you will just have to take my word for it).

This model was phenomenal! It was her first time modeling for me. During this model session I really felt like the minutes were slipping through my fingers. The poor woman, we lost track of time and she ended up holding poses for longer than we had agreed to. She was an incredible muse where I felt like I couldn't draw or paint fast enough. I became instantaneously focused. I usually do about an hour of warm up sketches and drawings of the model and then I do a couple of quick small paintings, not much more than 45min each. With 'J' I wanted to dive right into painting and my sketches were full blown intense drawings. She radiates an essence that I find very facinating. I hope to get the chance to paint her again.