Quent Cordair Fine Art

I took at least a dozen shots of the finished painting in a number of different lighting conditions in an attempt to get a decent image for this post. This is the best of the bunch, and with the exception of the exaggeration of the brush strokes in the fresh paint of the walls and the loss of detail in the brighter areas of the shoulder and shirt, it is fairly accurate. The paint on the walls is fresh because, as I mentioned in step 5, I decided to darken them considerably once I saw the way the original colors were playing off of the figures and the dark scene outside the window. While I was at it, I also refined the perspective on the widow itself, extended the shadow of the figures out of the picture on the left, and added some shadow detail to suggest a smaller light source on the right. I think all of the changes strengthened the composition and added a more intimate, warm feeling to the piece. I was also able to refine the light cast on the windowsill to better reflect the fireworks, now that I had the finished sky to refer to.

Although this was a relatively quick and somewhat experimental painting, I have to admit that I love the end result. It will take some time for the thick white paint in the brighter areas of the fireworks to dry completely so that the painting can be varnished and professionally photographed, but hopefully at that point I can make a better image available. Until then, enjoy New Year’s Eve and please send in any last comments or questions. Thanks for reading.

The glaze technique worked like a charm for the fireworks and the city lights. I coated the entire window area with a very thin layer of linseed oil mixed with a little burnt umber and ivory black. Both pigments are relatively transparent and serve mainly to lend their quick-drying properties to the glaze. The bright colors of the fireworks and lights were mixed with titanium white, which is quite opaque and powerful pigments such as cadmium red and cerulean blue easily overpower weaker pigments like the burnt umber. The glaze allowed me to blend the colors easily onto the surface of the under-painting, and control the effect of the light and smoke. I was so pleased with the result that I decided to try a similar technique to paint the detail in the hair of both figures.

Again, this image is a bit over-exposed, and there is a lot of extra light being reflected by the wet glaze.

I can offer a slightly better photo this time as far as the exposure is concerned. The figures are all but complete. In fact all that remains is to add the details to the hair, but that will wait until the view out the window is finished. I am particularly happy with the man’s shirt in this painting. I think I hit upon just the right balance between accurate detail and stylization. This can be a real challenge for me since my inclination is to paint every little wrinkle and fold I can make out with the naked eye. I am finding more and more that I achieve a better result when I purposely ignore most of the small stuff and focus on the general form of the drapery and those details which are directly caused by the shape of the body under the fabric.

This is another slightly over-exposed photo, but it does give an idea of how things are progressing. Now that the dress has been painted, I can see that I will have to darken the walls quite a bit achieve the ambient lighting I want. Other than that, progress has been remarkably smooth. If you look closely, you can see several areas, one by the girl’s cheek, one by her shoulder, and another by her fingers, that have been quite crudely painted over as I made minor adjustments to the figure. All of these areas will be completely masked by the dark glaze into which the fireworks will be painted.

I started working on the figures, painting most of the flesh tones and the champagne glass. I adjusted the colors as I went, trying to achieve the effect of a softer, dimmer lamplight than was used to take the scrap photos. I realize the shoulder looks fairly bright in this image, but that is in part due to the camera trying to compensate for the dark background by letting in more light. As more of the surrounding colors are put in place, especially the man’s shirt which is lighter than the woman’s skin, this shouldn’t be so much of a problem. The hair of both figures is just blocked in at this point. Once the lighting is finalized and the fireworks are painted, I will have a better idea how bright to paint the highlights in the hair.