Today I will show you more of my continued progress on painting the first layer of the figure of Madeline in my Not #MeToo: No More Casting Couch painting.
I have rolled up the canvas with the two figures I previously worked on (see earlier blog posts on the Creative Pinellas website here: Kevin Grass page on Creative Pinellas website) and now have a whole wall in my small studio devoted to the figure of Madeline. On the right of this photo, you can see that in order to raise my palette (I am painting the top portions standing on a ladder), I have stacked two step stools on top of my tabouret.
Just the day before, the figure of Madeline was only this far along.
My wife Michaela, who knows Madeline better than I do, and who is an artist as well, noticed that the figure’s cheek bone looked too round to resemble the real Madeline. I don’t always like to hear her criticism, especially when a work is still being developed, but saw that she had a point and re-did a significant portion of Madeline’s face. This is a time when painting in oils would have been handy, since making such modifications is relatively easy with the paint staying wet. But, because I am painting this work with acrylics, I have to re-paint portions that I want to modify completely over because this paint dries so much faster.
As you can see, I have also worked on developing Madeline’s outstretched arm further.
This is an overview of how the Madeline portion of the painting is going so far.
It is difficult to avoid glare in my small studio, which makes it hard to see the piece while I am painting it. The warm light in the upper left portion of this snapshot is from one of the spot lights I have trained on the canvas while I’m painting.
The glare makes it hard to see here as well, but you can get an idea of the progress on her hand holding the pepper spray. Madeline had the cross pendant dangling from her own pepper spray and I decided to include that, because it is part of her personal expression. I am not doing it to make a religious statement of one kind or another, since I think women of any faith should feel safe to go where they like without having to worry about sexual harassment.
I have also had a chance to work more on the lace of Madeline’s leotard top. It was a lucky break that these flowers resemble the blooms on the casting couch I have on the left side of the canvas. Having similar design elements helps to tie the various parts of this composition together.
Thanks for tuning in! I will keep you up-to-date with the progress of this piece in the next few months.
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 10 of 22
