"Spirit" (10x8 oil on panel) painting process

Greetings Steemians and Artists,

Today's post will show the stages of a small figurative painting from 2015.

detail

Here below is a very loose start (by knife). Once in a while I am compelled to start very abstractly. The task is then to find my way out of the murk. In terms of time, it all evens out in the end. The advantage of this method is that I get a sense of the overall impression of the painting right away.

This approach would not work well for painting from a live model. But when model time is not an issue, it's a really exciting approach. I find that it encourages a lot of early experimentation. I can focus on overall effect of value and color very soon.

Next stage:

Next stage. Gradually refining, correcting, defining:

Next stage:

Next stage:

And the finished painting, "Spirit" (10x8 oil on panel, 2015):

"During my schooling and subsequent career in architecture, I never truly embraced color. I was indifferent because I didn't know how to use it and thus didn't realize its power. When I started learning to paint with oils, I had to use color. Paint IS color. You can't separate one from the other. I fell in love. For better or worse, I've barely touched a pencil since."

(Excerpt from my FIGURE book, page 22)

You might notice that this model looks familiar...see earlier post "I Live With The Fae". I've painted this muse many times over the years.

Thanks for reading! -David

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