Due to illness I've missed the last two AVA sessions but determined to go this week, although still not 100%. The subject was ...actually there was no subject with members being able to complete previous works or do their own thing. I had nothing waiting to be completed so drew two portraits the previous day and decided on the day itself which to complete. One was an Apache Indian called Chato I've painted previously so if I chose that one - as I did - I could compare it with the earlier work and see if it was better or worse. The second was an actress from a cover photograph on one of the weekend colour magazines. I'll have a shot at that in the coming week. As can be imagined the paintings varied subject wise.
Hard at Work
Yvonne Harry -superb flower painting
Myra Abbot - I noticed Myra used quite a lot of masking.
Brenda
Chato - 2nd stage
Chato - 16" x 12" Waterford
Chato was an Apache Indian, Chiricahua I think, who was originally a hostile but later worked as a scout for the US Army. Without the Apache scouts it is doubtful if the US Army would ever have caught Geronimo.Typical of the time the scouts were disarmed, and put on the same train with the hostiles to imprisonment in Florida. Naturally Chato and the other scouts were very bitter at this and were taunted by the hostiles over their betrayal by the `white-eyes'.
I initially made a loose but careful pencil drawing using my favourite mechanical Pentel 07 2B. I've had a problem with Indian skin colour in the past in that my friend Hap in Oregon has frequently said it wasn't dark enough.I'm not sure what he will say about this one but colours used were Cadmium Red Light, Raw Sienna, Cobalt Blue,Cerulean Blue and Translucent Brown (SchminkePBr41), the blues used to darken the original mainly red mix with a touch of yellow. I began with the eyes, then the nose and, mouth before moving to the remainder of the face. The red headband is a mixture of Perylene Maroon, Quinacridone Coral and Quinacridone Rose with a little Burnt Umber in places to darken. The hair is Ultramarine Blue, Burnt Umber. Raw Umber and Translucent Brown. After the initial wash I added the shadows (when the paper was dry) and also a light face wash overall of Translucent Brown.