In this post are some process photos of creating "Carry Me." I love the subject of figures on the beach. Like many of you I have so many great childhood memories of family time at the ocean in Maine.
I start with a photo reference I took (below). One beach in Maine that is particularly great for this is Popham Beach in Phippsburg. It is large and shallow, and at low tide leaves sandy tide pools perfect for kids to play in. It's a favorite of many. I transfer the photo to my iPad and then go to work adjusting it for composition and color intensity.
When painting a figure that takes up this much room as the subject, I start by gridding off the piece. This helps me to place it exactly where I want it, and helps me to get the proportions correct at the outset. Through trial and error I've found that even slight irregularities in the human figure are easily picked up by the eye. I'm not an accomplished-enough sketch artist to free-hand it. If I'm going to spend this much time on a piece, I really want these proportions to be as accurate as I can get them.
With most paintings I start with a wash to kill the white. It's often fun to do it in the complementary color to the dominant hue of the painting. For this piece that would be the blue of the water. So the orange underpainting can be left to peek out from the blue if I want it to....or not.
My iPad has been an invaluable tool for my artwork. One App I use at the beginning of a piece is a value-finding tool. There are many. I use "Value Viewer". It gives me the photo in the 3 main values...darkest value, medium value and the lightest light. The app has other features that I won't go into right now, but this is the most important one. You can spend a lot of time working on a piece, but if the values are off it can all be for nothing. "Color takes the credit, but Value does all the Work." is a well-known adage among painters. A non-technical way to view value if you don't have the tech is to squint...works great but adds to the crow's feet!
I then paint these darkest darks in first...
then the medium values, leaving the lightest ones as white. As you can see I'm also starting to think through the surrounding landscape at this point.
And here I'm adding what is called the "local color" to the piece. That is, the local color for the swimsuit is red. So I'm adding a really dark red in the dark-valued section of the suit, and playing around with the light red splash on the left. As well as the lighter red on the edge of the tie near her neck. The basic blue of the water, the basic light color of the sand, etc.
From this point on in the piece its a matter of refining these established areas, staying within the value range and adjusting hue and intensity. At the end, its really fun and satisfying to add the final touches, like adding a thicker layer of paint to the boys shirt to make it pop. "Hanging the Jewelry" I heard someone say once. Love that!
If you took the time to read this I hope it was enjoyable. Below are a few detail shots. Thank you so much for your interest and support! 😌
Peace - Shelley
