May stop soon

[djstar]

I am not sure I am all that excited about my works in progress posts, but tonight I brought my camera to the studio an our pal, Les, the cowboy was back...Big surprise! he wore his black cowboy hat....
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/21-Jun-2001/lesphoto1.jpg
I roughed in the landmarks first with vine, then just set them with a compressed charcoal stick.
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/21-Jun-2001/lessketch.jpg

The Morilla block is such a wacko surface, I used a slop of Burnt Sienna, Cereulian blue, Hooker's green and a touch of yellow and underpainted it, then dried it and that was pretty much the end of the first 20 min....here is the wet slop:
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/21-Jun-2001/progress1.jpg
I tried to establish a lightest light in the cheek and darkest dark in the hat and threw in masses of color as value. This time it mostly seemed local color. I just wanted to try to get guts to the shadows, which there are a lot of!
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/21-Jun-2001/progress2.jpg

I tried to define the shape of the shadow on his face and nose and spent a lot of time darkening the pants and working on the relationships in the vest.
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/21-Jun-2001/progress3.jpg
I cut the background light to define the shape of his head and ears and kept defining. I used a lot of orange to bring the red into the light for the intensity. I skumbled a lot of black on the pants because it was not going dark enough.
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/21-Jun-2001/progress4.jpg

I put violet and purples in the darks on his face to give some vitality to the shadows which seemed to go to flat.
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/21-Jun-2001/lesdetail.jpg
And here is the finish.
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/21-Jun-2001/lesinchair.jpg
....maybe I should do a pole and see if you guys have had enough..
dj*

[wendee]

Thanks DJ for posting the progress shots...was very intresting....never saw pastels worked like that before....i learnt a lot from this....again thanks for posting it...:D DJ dont stop posting please...:D

[Fagan]

Don't stop posting!!! I am learning so much from your progress posts. I have a couple of watercolor paintings that I am not happy with...I may try adding the pastel and see what happens!!

[dollardays]

Please don't stop posting these progress paintings. I love looking at them. As someone new to pastels I'm trying to learn all I can and I love to see your people come to life. (Just think of the book you can write after you have all of them stored away!)
Nora

[Gisele]

I just LOVE your work and it is SO generous of you to share it here. Inspiring is the word. Really! Gisele

[sandge]

I love your progress shots. It is fascinating to see how you build up the pastel - quite different from the way I work. How about going one step further and putting together a lesson? You see - I want more, not less! :D

Love the colours and pastel application on this one. What a great character your cowboy looks! Do you feel you caught the proportions right?

best wishes
sandra

[djstar]

The proportions are one of those things that happens more in real life.
I only took the photo as reference for this post, I never really looked at it when I had taken it.
If I re-did this from the photo I guarantee it would be perfect. It is so much easier to grid up etc.
In three hours it is a lot of on-the-run decision making with a pose and honestly, I am not that concerned with the proportions. I was looking to get the light on his face with a pose. He is up on a platform and I sat for this one. The camera shows how long his legs were but by the time I roughed in the spaces I ran out of room for his boots.
I have finally accepted that I paint to learn. I did a lot with contrasts and mood. The head is bigger because I spent more time on it.
I am in the process of training my eye. I let the camera be perfect.
dj*

[Renee]

:cool:
Dear DJ,
I have never replied before, but I have been lurking about for a few months. Your posts and demonstrations are so great - Please don't stop! I'm trying to capture some of your spontanaeity in my work. At the moment it's 3 in the morning, I have a terrible tooth ache and I logged on while I'm waiting for the pain killers to kick in. I need you! The wet canvas world needs you! Feeling woozy - gotta go - Renee

[joemajury]

Renee,
Welcome to Wetcanvas, I hope you enjoy it here, keep posting and join the fun.

DJ,
I dont know HOW you got to the finished picture from the WET SLOP stage.
Thats why I love these progress pics.
It is SO different from the way I paint.
I would start with the hair, and work down, but yours is so exciting - all over the place.
I am going with strong pastel colours now, but I think I need to be a bit more wilder :D

Joe
;) ;)