Morning falls in coins
between the leaves. I stay locked
in the forest’s chest.
Here is my second attempt to add more abstraction to my figurative work. I wanted to the brush strokes themselves to indicate motion and feeling.
This is my attempt to create a color piece from a black and white reference. I tried to not worry too much about achieving “natural” tones and focus solely on value.
I have a tendency to get lost in minor details when I paint, so my teacher encouraged me to use larger brushes and looser strokes. She also showed me the work of Richard Schmid, an American painter and master of the alla prima method of oil painting. I found his work inspiring and informative. It’s a perfect blend of intuitive and focused painting. I tried to utilized some of his techniques while painting this portrait of a model I found online. The large, wild brushstrokes work well, I think, but there could also have been more consistency with that element in the face itself.