Off The Easel

"Her"

24" x 30"

oil on canvas

New Portrait Features

Contemporary Droplets

As I gathered my palette and 9 colors of oil paint tubes I used to orchestrate this painting, I set up for another painting session with this particular piece. I approached this painting like I would any other piece, but I wanted to leave it with a little flare. Ms. Nani was a wonderfully delightful young lady to work with and I wanted to capture her essence and charm on canvas.

Now in the early stages of the painting, I was still unsure about a lot of things that was going on with this piece. Starting with my normal routine, I stained the canvas and then began with a light quick sketch. That gave me placement on the canvas. It also gave me the important basic proportions that I needed to move forward.

Now as I was coming up to being 90% of completing this piece, I was still unsure. I did not know what I could do to give it the flare that I was looking for. Then, a lightbulb went off in my head.

I have been studying this Contemporary style of art for a while. I was looking at the "Justin The Bear Fields," a painting I was working on. I was wondering if I mix the two styles of painting, how would it feel, would I get that flare I was looking for and would it capture the essence of her? When I added the droplets on the Fields piece, I had all sorts of ideas running through my head. When the time came to splatter this piece, I didn't hesitate!

After a lot of practice runs, I finally decided to take the plunge, I dropped a little at a time. Because I was still unsure, I sat the painting upright. I knew then to go all in and make this happen, because I was liking the feel it was giving me. I was thinking I stumbled up on something new, at least something new to me. Now in the final stages of this painting, I finished the background with cool droplets against the vignette painted with her. All of this began to pull the piece together with the cooler background next to her skin, to give it the finished appearance I was looking for.

In conclusion, after some experimentation, "Her" was completed in a traditional and contemporary style. These contemporary droplets add to the piece in a highly original way.