Masterpiece?

Beginning stages of a painting of local model Ashley V. 32X32. The pose is from my local drawing class...I really liked the pose as well as the colors and patterns of the costume. I don't know where I'm going with it but something will come to me for the background/setting. As with most paintings, at this stage, I'm pretty sure it will be the greatest thing I've ever done but I know, in the end, it will fall short of that lofty goal and I'll try again the next time. Later, I'll post the final...unless it falls really short!!

The Degas Girl

Dancers are a natural subject matter for figurative artist...well, at least for me they are. The master, of course, has to be Degas. One of my favorite works of art of all time is his young dancer bronze with the real tutu attached. I had the privilege of seeing it in Atlanta a few years back. This study is from the bronze...still a little unfinished but I'm liking it. This work is all about the posture...the stance...perfectly balanced. Degas' closest rival, in my opinion is the late Robert Heindel. Google this guy and look at some of his work. Beautiful!! This study is done in conte and oil on bristol board.

Detail

A closer view of the final.

Final touches??

I'm at a point where I'll look at the painting for a while. It very well may be finished. I've worked on the foreground and added a few little highlights here and there. The painting has been stretched and is drying. If I make any drastic changes I'll repost it here. Keep looking for other projects here as I like to post 2 or 3 per month. "The View From Oak Hill" and it's smaller study will be for sale if anyone is interested...e-mail me and let me know.(pateart@juno.com) They will both be visible within a day or two on my website under "Original Art"/"Landscape" paintings. www.pateart.com

Sky

I've started painting over the under painting of the sky area. It started as a medium to dark warm gray...a combination of burnt umber, ultramarine blue and white. The finished sky is painted with the same colors but much more white. The lower part of the sky gets a smidge of yellow added. I'm using filbert brushes...#8 and #6 for the sky. I'm also showing the overall painting at this stage. It's nearing completion. I still have foreground decisions to make. Also, at some point, I'll hang it up in the studio and just look at it for a few weeks to see if I want to do any thing else. I just realized that you can click on the image and it will show you a larger version with better detail. Also, someone was asking about looking at my son's blog...click on his name to the right..."Taylor Pate". The "my website" link takes you to my actual website.

"The Veiw" continues

Here you'll see the mid-ground area. This is where I wanted the most color and detail. As a way to introduce color without people, I've added a few flowers...naturally occurring objects in a cemetery. I'm using a lot of artistic license in the placement of tombstones etc...if it works it stays if not, it moves or doesn't go in. Also shown here is the right side of the mid-ground area...this area will stay void of much detail and color.

Details of "The Veiw"

I'll show some details of different areas as I progress. Here you see the trees and courthouse. The trees are painted over the sky as a solid grayish mass. After they dry, the sky(negative area) is painted over the gray area until a tree appears. Fine branches are added with pencil and "scratched" into the paint with a palette knife or Xacto blade.