Another Face, Another Hand

  Okay, here's the step by step on painting two in this series. I got this reference photo from a friend:

  I liked this one immediately. It's not a glamor shot hand pose and there's some great emotion in the face. I converted this to black and white, played up the shadows a bit and decided where I was gonna crop it for the canvas. I picked out this canvas:

 I liked this one for this project because the purplish colors on the right swoop back in a way that defines the area of the face and hands. To me anyway. Maybe I'm not explaining this the best way. There's a whitish triangle from the lower right hand corner, lower left hand corner, and just to the left of the top. that's where I picture the person being. So, I get my reference, get the canvas, and I get my trusty brush and some white paint. Here's the first step:

 It's a much closer view that I thought it would be. What can I say? I go where the paintings lead me. I think it looks pretty cool here. Definitely not finished, but cool. I've laid out all the highlights and I give the white a few minutes to dry.
  Next is the first black layer. I go with either white or black first, depending on whether the background is light or dark. It wouldn't make much sense to paint white on a white canvas. Although, you could do that, call it Modern, and get rich way quicker than I am. If you do, all I ask is that you buy some art from me. Anyway, here it is after the black:

  I was glad to see that I had a pretty good grasp of the emotion at this point. Sometimes it goes better than others. I'm also gonna point out that I'm also doing another painting at the same time (In this series, simultaneously. I actually have upwards of a dozen paintings going on at the same time).
  So, the next step? White. Definitely white. I start to firm up the face and hand, take in the proportions, make sure everything lines up like it's supposed to:

  I tweak the hand and  parts of the face. I'm really liking where this is going and it takes a lot of patience to wait for the paint to dry, so I can do
    Another. Layer.....In Black:

  And here it is, the finished product. I show my wife. She loves it. I show my friend. He loves it. I look at it and think " I can do better", which can be a dangerous thing to think. I could do something horrible. Something I can't fix. I can walk away here and have a really good painting. I suppose by now you've realized that isn't what I did. I don't like to settle for good when I can get close to, if not right on top of, great. The rarefied air.
  So, I get my smaller brush, some black, some white, and some groovin' tunes. i take about fifteen minutes of staring and tweaking, and here's the result:

 A little work around the mouth. A little work around the eyes. Just like a movie star. And there it is. Another painting I'm really proud of. Hopefully I've explained my process to you in a way that you can understand. If not, ask me anything. I'll tell you all I know.

         AKO ANG HARI