Comin' From Behind

"I'll give up the gym and dating!" 

Yep, my dramatic proclamation to Terry at our first meeting was a bit much.

(And then I met a boy!)

Coming from behind in more ways than one, I continue my pursuit of mastering fundamentals whilst simultaneously catching up on my study quota.  Luckily I prefer to act the underdog, the 12th seed over the 5th, rooting for the Bad News Bears.  And in this case climbing out from a significant master study deficit!  After an awesome surprise trip to Vegas with my amazing new boyfriend (Yay!), I have spent this past week recovering from a lack of sleep and checking boxes off my list.  The Golden Bear show came down with no bar casualties, and coincidentally made several happy new Lenefsky collectors.  Now, back to Sorolla heads!

The focus of these was to remember the head is first of all a head and not unlike an egg.  Before getting lost in the eyes or nose, the first goal is to depict the form which rounds both horizontally and vertically.  In the last few studies I was a hot mess.  Mistakes such as tripping over the texture of the paper, picking up way too much paint, pushing the brush too hard, and most costly, not mixing puddles or observing this value structure lead to flea ridden results.

I began the next few studies with a light Liquin coat, a medium to help smooth the flow of paint across the surface.  I also did not move past the drawing until I picked up my palate knife and made a pile each of light and shadow color.  I then attempted to stay focused and mixed all subsequent notes from either puddle in attempt to maintain the value structure.  

1hr Sorolla Study #10

Yep.  This is the third time I have painted this head!

Of my three Benito Perez Galdos efforts, this is the most successful.  I stuck with a bigger brush for a longer period of time and used a little medium in order to make fewer, larger passes.  Having premixed the puddles, this was also much easier to organize!   The light planes under his nose do not seem to compete with the forehead's lightest light as they did previously.  The ears however, are a bit Mr Potato Head-esq, sticking out with out falling back behind the face.  I lost the drawing and failed to define where they meet the side of head.  The nose seems like an umbrella, opening up over the philtrum and not rounding back down under the plane.  Still, finally looking better!

1hr Sorolla Study #11

For this study I referenced my full color Sorolla book and the plate Portrait of Jose Artal.  I'm feeling the volume of his forehead a bit here, but could have paid more attention to the brow ridge.   The light looks like a white box tattoo and doesn't describe the shape.   I am really not loving the nose here either,  as it is not convincingly sculpted.  The light notes in the beard are too light.  The puddles did seem to help with the organization, however I think I spent too much time on the wrong things.  Namely, in trying to describe the eyes in shadow, I reworked them several times to the detriment of the other features.  And in the last moments scrambled to fill in the flesh elsewhere.  

In round two of Jose, I closed the book and referenced a digital black and white image of the same painting along with my first Jose (#11).

1 hr Sorolla Studies #11 and #12

In terms of color I prefer Jose #12 overall, though the left side of his head does not round back into space as well.  Unfortunately, I managed to run out of time before he had a left ear but it seems roughly in at the right depth.  Hmm... can't wait to hear what Terry says!