intaglio prints

Plastic Surgery?

I swear the saturation drops when it posts to Blogger.

So, this is me trying to be quick and get to a point where I can demo this Thursday and explain my way through it.

With the underpainting, I did initial blocking with my 1" flat and raw umber. I then mixed in some cad red, and went darker and a little tighter with the smaller flat. I really liked the temperature shift that created, and while a lot of it will be painted over, it added a layer to help with the fluctuations.

I did that damn squash again. The shadow this time went too purpley, to I had to go in again and knock it a little green. Anyway I'm digging it so far.

Barber Shop Fin

I was in the zone last night, so I finished it up. I added the shaving cream today; that was Shanell's insistence.

There is some glare on the left side; you can see more brushstroke than what's there. It looks ok, but I think without the glare it looks better.

I was really trying to experiment with shadow temperature on the cloth; tell me what you guys think.

Barber Shop

Okay, change of approach for me. This was kind of a last minute set up, and I got my big flat brushes and went to town.

It's still in mid-progress, but I wanted to get some ideas. I really like the similar-valued atmosphere - some parts of the subject loses edges into the background; I like that. But I can't leave the background as is. I want to add a little variation and the indication of light and space, without changing it too much and losing the interaction. Ideas? (I don't like the dark paint I put down just behind the shadow edge of the cup.)

Shanell pointed out a few things. I like the eye-level view, but it creates some small spatial problems. Where the cup handle, bottle and razor all interact, the shallow space flattens them all together. I know there are some foreshortening issues with the blade; its shadow on the cup doesn't wrap around enough and the blade itself gets fatter as it goes back in space. I think I can fix that, but anything else as far as this space goes?

Also, what to do about the ground plane. I haven't figured it out yet. Shanell was thinking the top of some book shelves, where you see the top board and then the recessed space underneath. Sounds like a good idea. Any other ideas?