Starting a new painting: Joie de vivre

Joie de vivre

I have wanted to do a painting from this photograph I took at a friends wedding for quite a while now.

I love the dance with nature and wanted to do something impressionistic with it. I've been playing with using him for my wood spirit series as well but just feel more motivated to do this painting first.

 I am starting this painting with a black undercoat. I like the DaVinci quote  "A painter should begin every canvas with a wash of black, because all things in nature are dark except where exposed by the light."  and as this is intended to be an impressionist style painting where I will be painting and celebrating the light, this is the direction I have chosen to begin with. However as with all my paintings I am sure it will be an epic battle of compromises before I end up with a final result.

 I made a loose sketch in white pencil on the black background. I didn't like the hat so I decided I would just make him blond.

 I started painting in medium tones and highlights to work out my composition better and refine the subject a little. I like a green background for now to keep with the nature theme.

 As I refine the subject I begin thinking about overall colors. I am starting with blue for the shirt and a neutral color for the pants. I want to work more with primary colors in an impressionistic style once I have everything blocked in where I want it.

I did a wash of brown at the bottom with some green mixed in for the foreground. I also started adding some warmer colors on the skin and yellow in the hair. I really like the start of this one and now I will start working a little more impressionistic and using bold color. We'll see how that goes. It does feel good to be painting again though. 

My work is available as Fine Art Prints on my website. Feel free to go and check it out.