Well a lot has happened since the last post. I've been putting in color, not necessarily color seen but felt. The local color and the neutrals will be put in later. The forms seem stronger now which points up the fact that a change of color is always stronger than a change of tone.

Here is a final shot of the under painting. You can probably see I've started to add some color around the edges of the shapes.

This is the painting a little further along. This was taken around the middle of December 2007.

Here I've started the under painting using a mix of cobalt blue and cadmium red medium mixed with some Cremnitz white and thinned out with turpentine. The shapes are more distinct and its now clear how I've changed the design. The drawing that I did was more of a vertical and now the painting will be more of a horizontal.

On a 36"x42" linen canvas, I have put the drawing down with a pastel pencil and started to go over the main shapes with Veronese green oil color thinned with turpentine. I use the green color because it will still be visible even when I start putting in the underpainting.

I started this next painting in October of 2007. Its of my friend Nathan, aka Andy, whom I felt would be an excellent subject. And he didn't disappoint! After taking many photos of him, I chose two to combine for the painting. This is the pastel drawing that I did from the photos. I did the drawing to get a better idea of the composition and the color. As you will see in the next few posts I changed the composition quite a bit.

Step by step painting process

Step 1 On a 28"x38" linen canvas I've put down the drawing for the painting. The drawing was done in a grey pastel pencil.

Step 2 Here I've gone over the drawing with Veronese green thinned out with turpentine. Its now ready to start the underpainting in a grey tone.

step 3 This is the completed underpainting. It is done in thinned out oil paint consisting of cobalt green and cadmium red.

Step 4 Here I've started to put some color in. The background is still just underpainting.

Step 5 In this step the background has been laid in and everywhere the paint has started to be built up.

step 6 More color has been added in certain areas in this step.

step 7 Here all the final drawing corrections have been made along with the deepest darks and the final color notes. "Yolanda and Mineh", 2007