Bon Voyage........

I Learned a new word; 

VALISE

[vuh-lees or, esp. British, -leez

noun

a small piece of luggage that can be carried by hand, 

used to hold clothing, toilet articles, etc; suitcase; traveling bag.

Origin:

1605-1615;  < French  < Italian valigia, of obscure origin; 

compare Medieval Latin valesium 

Regrettably, I had lost touch with my beautiful niece, not having seen her in probably what's been going on at least ten years now.  Divorce will do that; it tears relationships apart that once seemed so solidified .....so permanent.

 Ah, the comfort one feels when taking things for granted.....

then POOF.....everything changes.

  

Well, imagine my delight when I looked her up on the ol' internet and actually found her!  A miraculous feat worthy of noting for this technologically challenged gal!  Not only did I find her but, I was so impressed with her accomplishments; clearly she had grown into a very clever and gifted young woman, quite articulate in her writing skills, (and she possesses a creative gene or two - to boot)!  I discovered she has an interest in vintage clothing and is modeling her own finds and blogs about this...... what I found were the most interesting posts to go with her beautiful photography.

  I am honored to be allowed the opportunity to paint 

this young lady. 

So, what follows is what I hope to be one of many pieces featuring 

her and her smart sense of style portraying an era of fashion I have always admired.  Is it possible to live 

vicariously through paintings I wonder?

#1

#1)  Starting with her face - while I would love to capture an exact likeness, I was going more for her essence and when doing paintings with people as the main subject - if you don't have that essence just right in the face....well, you ain't gonna get nuthin' else right......so with the goal of creating a sense that she was possibly watching her ride appear just around the block, or perhaps a boat.....or a train?   I proceeded to brush her in using the following colors;

cadmium red dark

manganese blue hue

burnt sienna

burnt umber 

titan buff

titanium white

ultramarine blue

Her hair is rendered using mixes of the same while her jacket I added hooker's green (how the heck did they ever come up with THAT name for green?)   Glad you asked!  I looked it up and get your mind outta the gutter folks, no it wasn't the color of some famous hooker's dress.....it's named after William Jackson Hooker.  He was a renowned English botanist, author, and botanical illustrator who compounded his own special pigment for the leaves in his paintings and dubbed it..... hooker's green!  For the valise I added in mixes of predominantly transparent red iron oxide with manganese, ultramarine, and  titanium white.  

Knowing that I would be doing a lot of glazing (layering of paint) I blocked in the rest of her clothing and the bag with very washed out colors of what each finished area would have - sort of like drawing a map.

#2

#2)  Once I was content that she looked more human than alien, I moved on to the secondary focal point(s); her hands and that mysterious bag.  From the get-go, my intention is to have a finished piece with tightly rendered focal points and loosely done around the rest of it.  Sort of like when your eye looks at something but, while we aren't usually conscience of it, the areas around what we are focusing on are diffuse.

#3

#3)  I had planned to work up the background while I built up her clothing but found myself sidetracked - on folds of fabric maybe? And plans are just the universe's cue to  intervene and change things up - right?  Keeps things spicey for us, doesn't it? Anywhooo........next time I will try and stick to the plan, it would have been easier that way.

#4

#4)  Things had progressed to the point where it was time to stop, so after a restless night, I was back at it early the next morning  softening the background - favorite color of the day; titan buff - used to feather in/ blend with surrounding colors.  So, this piece is rolling along at a pretty good clip.....they don't always.......I find it amusing when someone asks: 

"How long did it take you to paint that?" 

Unless you are an artist, I have found people really are clueless as to the time (and mental energy) an artist has to invest in a piece.  This one has over a dozen hours of actual brush to surface time into it but, what also needs to be accounted for is the hours of "think" time in the  planning phase, the studie(s) an artist may do prior to painting (or may not do), the surface prep time - ie; gesso, and another coat, and another....one more maybe?......even the time spent on sealing the darn thing (adding a coat of protection) and mounting the hanging hardware in the end, add to this additional time (and $$$ if you are actually framing it)........ not to mention the restless nights where in the wee hours at 3 a.m. when you have an epiphany regarding the current piece you are working on that makes (or breaks) the whole piece during the next days painting session.  All totaled, well as you can deduce......I am not really sure of just how many hours this took.  Suffice it to say; A LOT.....how's that?    

In conclusion; A few finishing touches - cleaned up a few shadows and there you have it.....(or so I thought).  It's Murphy's Law at work here; when I finally added my signature (which is supposed to be the last stroke of paint) inevitably this is when I receive that "ah-ha moment" from my elusive muse.....it's only then that I see a spot that needs tinkering. Why is this?

So......spot fixed......here it is:

#5

Bon Voyage 

12" x 24"

 acrylic on deep cradled panel board

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