I am thrilled to announce that I have completed "Kathak Dancer," a painting I began a year ago. It has been an astonishing experience and I have enjoyed the process from beginning to end. This painting is 18" x36" in dimension and was completed in oil on canvas. A painting must always begin with, "What interests me? What challenges me? and What more do I need to learn? In this painting, I challenged myself with a number of different textures, a new skin tone to explore. and creating a bronze sculpture. I painted this image from a combination of in person observations of the model as well as reference photos I took of the model (one of my students). As a member of the National Portrait Society, I have submitted this work to the 2022 Portrait competition. Send positive thoughts for a successful outcome!
Lessons Learned: I wanted to experiment with the medium Winsor/Newton Liquid Fine Detail for this painting. And while it did the job, I discovered I did not like it's quick drying properties. If you are using oil, why would you want it to dry more quickly? As part of my palette, I also used a delicious set of Vasari "Renaissance" colors, which are all soft tints of various colors. These tints helped me achieve beautiful, rich skin tones. Mixing the skin tones with titanium white, as I do for Caucasian skin, would have missed the mark. In general, most artists make the mistake of using too much white in color mixing.
My next step is to go back to mixing my own medium, this time not including Damar varnish, because it yellow. So, I am going to experiment with Gamsol as my thinner and and Gamblin (alkyd) Refined Linseed Oil as the binder for my next paintings. What's next on my easel? Stay tuned!