Work in progress (WIP) of an oil painting after 4-5hrs-ish progress, after breaks.
Right at the beginning I made the composition slightly too large and have been suffering ever since. I had to slightly shorten the legs, as I didn’t want the left foot coming completely off the canvas! It has been a real struggle figuring out what to do with that leg – which has a knock-on effect measuring the other leg, so I have made several revisions to both. I get one more stab at this next Wednesday, so I hope I can make it work.
One lesson from this I really need to absorb for future:
A stitch in time saves nine.
– Late 1600s proverb.
Note to self: get the composition right at the start! Even if it’s a struggle, it’s less misery later that way around. If oil painting in multiple campaigns, session 1 should absolutely focus on composition first and foremost before moving on to any other steps.
In drawing and painting, there is a temptation sometimes to skip ahead. Global measurement and establishing the composition on the canvas space is sensible. Jumping immediately into comfortable detail and winging it, hoping it will build and fit correctly can work, but is unwise and risks baking in structural mistakes that bite you in the ass later on. If you’re tired or having a bad ‘off’ day, your brain isn’t in gear, blood sugar level is low, a cold start can feel like ‘grinding gears’. Invariably, trying to ‘fake it’ doesn’t work, and you don’t flow like on a ‘good day’. Instead of getting hamstrung, try drilling quick gestural sketches to recalibrate, and then try again with your brain and eyes and hands now working. Plus some quite gestural sketches and composition plans could provide some better insight into how to set yourself up for success.
Update
Things I did right:
- I didn’t unnecessarily tinker with the shirt – only applied edits where needed.
- Fixed the hands, which needed considerable work, but also avoided needless edits for the most part.
- Did something with the shadow on the floor, which was previously an unresolved mess.
- Tidied up the stick, which was barely sketched in.
- Removed the brown box on the floor (a feature from the first painting session, which was removed in the second session and not returned for the last session, so I got rid of it completely).
- I didn’t rush the kilt.
Where I made mistakes:
- I tinkered FAR too much with the face, and I don’t believe it was an improvement. It was more simple before, now it’s too fiddly. I created problems where there weren’t before and I will have to go back and make final adjustments to correct them, such as the eye, which is a bit of a mess now.
- I introduced highlights to the face that aren’t in keeping with the colour temperature established in the rest of the painting.
- I didn’t give myself time to work on the tartan pattern of the kilt.
- I made the right leg too thin at the ankle.
- I didn’t quite resolve the difference between the shadow in the shirt above the left side hand, and the background shadow behind it.
- I didn’t make the neck and collar convincingly connect.
- Felt like I ran out of time general on this one.
Insight:
“Can’t see the forest for the tree?“
– Ancient proverb, written down in 1546 by John Heywood.
I used a slightly busted (fishtailed) size 1 sable brush and got too obsessed with tiny detail that was frustrating and ultimately not even successful (big surprise). I wasn’t seeing the forest for the trees. The detail obsession was spoiling the more satisfying, more painterly style I had established in session 2 using at the smallest scale, a size 1 hog hair brush. Especially when painting from life under time constraints, you have to pick your battles, and getting bogged down in an area that only needed minimal edits and was already OK is not a wise move. I must remember that an overall painterly impression with nice tonal values, thoughtful paint application and use of hues is the way to go.
Insight
“Pick your battles.”
– Probably Sun Tzu?
I will do some more edits to this painting, hopefully wisely and tastefully. Fingers crossed. I’ll update on this blog post when it’s done.