Cast Hall Progress

Here is the stage the Cast hall painting is at as I left it last night. This is for my Figure Comp class. I am pretty happy with it and I figure one more pass at it will probably finish it. I think adding in the easel with it's slight angle added just the little bit of movement that the painting needed, just that little angle adds some variety. I spent the night last night glazing down and working warms into cools and fighting with the lighting on the cast of David and then pushing the room back and adjusting contrasts all over. I will say that I did apply a lot of what I learned from both Scott Noel's classes as well as Vincent Desiderio's workshop I took a few weeks back in working on this painting. Loading in big areas of paint with the palette knife, trying to make the color the right color first, then load it in, and then glazing things. I really glazed on the legs and on the wall in the room by the doors. But I also want the painting to be a direct response to what I am seeing at the time vs what the painting needs to work as a painting. This is where I feel I have made the most growth as a painter, in deciding what the painting needs over direct reporting of what I see. That is the hardest part at times and often I had to think more than paint, get up, walk away and come back with a fresh eye.

I also was really inspired and thinking about NC Wyeth's work too, I have been to the Brandywine River Museum twice in the last few months and that really holds a charge for me over a long time. The more you grow as a painter the more you see, understand, can appreciate and steal from great painters.