Quent Cordair Fine Art

To finish the hair, I’m using a combination of ultramarine blue and alizarin crimson, as opposed to black. This dark-purplish alternative gives her hair a nice flourish that ties it in with the lavender flower bloom she holds, as well as the rosiness of her flesh tones. I’m not against using black, but this aids in the unity of the painting as a whole in this case.

I also add a few more details here, a few there, just to tie things together, and sign the painting with my signature silver lyre on its side in the shape of a “D”. (We must be allowed at least some extravagances, mustn’t we? We won’t discuss my furry shoes…)

I hope you’ve had a lovely time following the progress of this work, or a lovely time stumbling accidentally upon this last post just today, and I hope that you and those you love have survived the excitement of overly-enthusiastic footballers for yet another World Cup.

We’ll see you next time. Thank you, and chin chin.

And, just as we did with the blouse, we now go back and finish the fleshy bits. I’ve included a close-up of the face. You can (I hope) see how much more refined this is from its Impressionistic predecessor.

Now, the hair is still in its rough, chopped-in state. Yet it doesn’t really look so off-beat from the much more polished face that it ensconces. This has a lot to do with our previous efforts at creating a nice transitional blend between the two. This is also a good example of what I was blabbering about earlier about not jumping the gun and laying in finishing details on every area before you get a chance to bring the other areas of the painting up to a more finished level for a good comparison.

Your own tastes may very well be telling you “hey, let’s leave it alone and head for the beach for the rest of the day.” That would be fine. You go with that. But I’m going to go ahead and bring the hair up to speed with the face, because that’s just how I roll.

Eh? I don’t see any change. Has Damon been sleeping all day?

No. Actually, I’ve gone back and put the final detail in the blouse. If you compare this to Step 6, you’ll see that I actually adjusted the color slightly (it’s a little more blue), as well as adding all the gravy and trimmings (frog clasps, embroidery, etc.). As you can see, the amount of work I had to do does not amount to much more than polishing after I get a good chop in place. This is a pretty good example of how this approach to building up a painting in stages, as opposed to putting all the finished detail down all at once, can lighten your load.

It also gives you a chance to go see a matinee of a pirate movie, which is nice too. Arrrgh…

But first, I’m including an educational bonus. I’ve included a photo of my working palette at this point, complete with labels. Fascinating. The flesh colors in reserve may very well dry out while sitting there, but it will be easy to use them as a reference for the purpose of remixing them to finish the flesh areas. This saves a lot of time over remixing them with no reference at all.

I know I know I know. Please calm down. I did not just finish the whole painting. There are (unfortunately) not any oil painting faeries who will sneak into your studio during the night and finish your work if you leave them a shiny nickel or a handful of teeth (gross. Who comes up with these superstitions, anyway?).

All I’ve done is chopped in the figure. I had to do it all at once so I could maintain an even blend between all her parts. Remember how evenly-blended transitions between areas are important? Don’t make me mention the sock-puppets again. (Oops. I just did. Sorry). If I don’t blend her parts, I risk hard lines and textural unevenness between the various elements. Bad for unity. This is particularly important for the areas where her hair and flesh come in contact. If I don’t do this, she’ll look like she’s having a bad wig day. (You Revolutionary War re-enactment enthusiasts out there will know what I mean)

Just as we did with the background, this stage is an approximation of the colors and values that are predicted to be in the final work-up of the figure. If you’re predilection is for Impressionistic paintings, then you can stop right here and be fairly happy with your work, I believe. But if you prefer Realism, you have some more work to do.

I’ve included a close-up of the face so you can see just how loose the chop here really is. Maybe I should become an Impressionist after all. My friend Cervesa says it’s a good idea. She talks like that when she gets lonely. What do you think? No? Well okay. We’ll go ahead and turn it into a Realist painting then.

And for my next trick, er, “illusion” rather, please keep your eyes on the big gray area that remains in the background. And… abra-caBOOM! We have water! <APPLAUSE>

Thank you. Yes. It’s very nice to be here.

You can see that I’ve also jotted in the part of the figure’s hair that is touching the background paint. This needs to be done before the background paint dries so I can blend the two carefully. This blending is very important. It prevents the figure from looking like a cardboard cut-out dancing in front of a sock-puppet theater backdrop. And as fine artists, it’s generally not acceptable for the term “sock-puppet” to come to a viewer’s mind when viewing our work. This is just my personal opinion. I’ve been wrong before. If you’re some kind of professional sock-puppet fine artist, please don’t send me any angry letters–I don’t want to hear from you.

Actually… I take that back. Please include a photo with your letters.