Monday, February 2, 2015

Aylla- finally



Aylla 54.5" x 57.5" oil and wax


This painting is finally done. My model was excellent- did not move, reliable and as you can see 6 feet of lovely American girl- but this has been a never again, long haul painting- an almost lifesize figure from life- sight size. The color is not quite exact- is it ever in  photos?

My inspiration were Manet's Olympia, Matisse for color and Euan Uglow in appreciation for bringing the figure into the late 20th century and keeping it beautiful and powerful. Also my husband for keeping me in one piece and rescuing my model when she got stuck in the snow.



This is as far back as I could get to take the picture of my set-up as there are three feet of snow out my sliding doors right now. This is where I usually stand so you can see if I was working from a photo that the distortion would be horrible. The are three strings with fish weights on them, I used this to measure the horizontals. I saw this on Painting Perceptions  and in  the book on how Euan Uglow got his measurments correct.
The orange cloud obi was a lucky find online from Kansas. The blue and black obi was all black until I filled in the flowers with a blue and orange pastel. I do think I am bonkers sometimes, but I could not find an  obi to match my color scheme which was lifted from Matisse.
Matisse, if you are into color, has most of the answers.
The Studies



5 comments:

Stefano Lanza said...

This beautiful painting! Beautiful colors and anatomy! Great !!!
If I understand you put even the preliminary studies, I hope them places soon.
It would be nice to see the painting live.

jimserrettstudio said...

Just beautiful, love the composition, the sitters expression, the background elements.
I want to see it in the real!
Just stellar work, thanks for sharing it.

Sharon Knettell said...

Thank-you very much!
I will post some working drawings and color studies.

Allison G said...

This piece is STUNNING!!! Love the oranges and blues - and the bright lipstick on the model! She has a great face! I cannot imagine doing such a large painting! I'm working on something about 75% of the actual size and even that seems like a lot. Fantastic! Brava!

Sharon Knettell said...

Thanks Allie!

Believe it ornot you drawing is entering it final stages. Pinned to my wall!