More figures, I know! It is actually a stolen moment in Les jardin des Tuileries, Paris where my 17 year old daughter and 8 year old son sat together in the sun, just chatting. With the prospect of few family holidays now that our daughter is older, this is a special one for my husband and me. I started this canvas with the usual application of very thin washes in watered down acrylic. You can just see areas of phthalo green, crimson and pale ultramarine blue which I use to build interest to the surface. I then very loosely drew into the canvas using charcoal, working from sketches and photographic material.
Using a very muted ultramarine - titanium white - yellow ochre palette, I dropped in the sky and reflections to the pond. I was particularly drawn to the subject by the wonderful early afternoon shadows too and so my next task was to ensure I blocked those in. Here I kept much of the wash beneath and worked into the surface with purple - the complimentary colour to the naples yellow gravel.
I have worked on the figures, as you can see and the chairs to some extent, but there is more to enjoy there - although I don't want to lose the spontaneity of the brush marks. I have also applied more washes since this picture was taken, in order to unify the surface and push the painting in the process. I do need to work the retaining wall around the pond further as well as the water. Will post soon.... 
No comments:
Post a Comment