Adding depth to the “Not #MeToo” painting with layers of paint
When last you saw the updates on my Not #MeToo: No More Casting Couch painting, I had finished the first complete layer of paint and stretched the canvas. It’s time for adding some more layers of paint to give depth to the work and to refine it. Unfortunately, the changes I make now will not seem that dramatic, and you have to look more carefully for the subtleties to show. Nevertheless, this stage is important, because I want my finished work to be comparable to the paintings of some of my heroes: Jan Van Eyck and Artemisia Gentileschi.
Look carefully at this pillow. Can you tell that I deepened the colors and sharpness of the pillow in the upper left-hand quadrant of the pillow? I think this kind of detail is better seen in person, and I hope you will get a chance to see this work when it is finished some time in real life.
This is another night time painting session. It is awkward to sit on the small step stool to paint the bottom of the tutu, but because I cannot raise the painting, I will just have to make do. I can tell that I’m getting older, because after squatting awkwardly, my feet went numb for more than a day! Unless it is for a commission, I don’t think I will be working this large again. It is just too hard on my body. One more reason to admire Michelangelo, who was nearly 67 when he finished his gargantuan Last Judgment fresco in the Sistine Chapel. He was truly the ultimate art superstar!
Here is Alexandra’s tutu after I have worked on it for a bit. The challenge is to keep the feeling of the tulle, but not make it so see-through that it seems as if she is wearing Cellophane. This is definitely one of the more difficult parts of this entire painting.
This was the earlier version of the tutu and it was much more revealing. While this is truer to the photographs I took, I do not want to portray Alexandra as a sex object. One of the reasons that painting is not entirely obsolete is that you can still do things with this medium that would not come across the same way if a bunch of photographs were just Photoshopped together. With this artwork, the overall look of it and the beautiful details are more important than being entirely true to the source photographs.
Here I am at another painting session on the floor painting the edges of Alexandra’s tutu. Thankfully, I am patient with this kind of thing, because other artists would have called it quits on this piece a while back. But then they would not get the kind of high-quality, Old Master-style painting that I’m going for! Our older rescue dog Bella decided to hang out with me this time. Our two rat terriers often take turns keeping me company while I paint.
I wish I could paint faster. Sometimes it is frustrating to be such a perfectionist. I hope that the end product will be worth all of this effort. Until next time, thanks for tuning in,
To see my entire portfolio of paintings, please check out www.kevingrass.art! You can purchase original paintings and fine art print reproductions directly from my website.
Blog post 13 of 22
