Peek into my Studio – Barrels of Fun

I invite you to take a peek into my studio this week. I would like to say I’m back to my normal studio routine, but still trying to find the time to devote to art. I started and nearly finished the seventh (!) painting in the “Wine, Women, and Song” series, this one I’m calling “Barrels of Fun.”I’m gearing up to do the production week where you devote the entire week to shipping out a series (8-10) of quick, smaller paintings. II set aside a few canvases I had on hand and some paper but haven’t got to the point of starting the production week.

Barrels of Fun

I created this source using Affinity Photo and three different reference photographs. I wanted to challenge myself, so I selected an African American model. The challenge will be getting skin tones correct and being able to use collage for the hair.

I started as usual, with a layer of acrylic washes followed by spray painting through selected stencils. I then used a brayer to roll on paint for the area that will be the wall.

I sketched the model with charcoal, sealed with workable fixative. I decided to make her hair longer as I didn’t think I could do the short Afro justice using collage papers.

I started underpainting the shadows on the model and started to flesh out the barrels.

I continued painting, filling in the shirt and hair on the woman and the wine bottle and glass in the foreground.

Working on the facial features was a challenge. The barrels were beginning to drive me batty!

I started the collage process on her hair. I originally put in several small, different colored pieces. I had been hoarding this particular packing material for some time and thought it might be just what’s needed to give the texture of the hair.

This photo shows the original layer of collage and the start of using the packing material.

I was hoping more of the first layer of collage would show through, but it didn’t as much as I wanted but I went with the flow. I kept working and reworking the barrels and just couldn’t seem to get them right.

I brought this piece to my Mastery Program coaching group and asked for their critique. I was surprised that my coach, Heather, didn’t think I had to do much more with the barrels. She liked their stylized effect. I had some feedback to flesh out her face more on the right side and work on the wine glass, so it doesn’t look like it’s going to fall over.

This is where I stopped today after incorporating the group’s comments. I will move next to using some oil glazes and push some of the distant barrels into the background with the glaze. I

I haven’t yet incorporated any birds as I have been doing in this series. I was thinking of adding a few random owl faces on the front of a few barrels or adding an owl figure to the wine bottle label. Which one do you think is a better idea? Should I do both?

Takeaways

I am my own worst critic! I will take the feedback/critique and learn from it.

Thank you again for being here with me.