WREATHE - New Painting!

Hello lovely people, 

Those of you who follow me on Insta will have seen the work in progress pics of this small piece, but here it is all finished, along with said progress images!

This piece was an exercise in muted colours, contrast, and detail. 

I wanted to spend some time on a composition that was simple in essence but contained some fine detail and high contrast.
If you watched my last Youtube video you'll know that I have been struggling with starting paintings, so in order to try and kickstart my brain back into gear, I decided to work on an idea that had appealed to me for a long time but wasn't fully developed into a finished complex composition yet. I stuck to some of my comfort elements (human head, dark background...), which helped me feel less intimidated to star, and once I got going, things fell into place nicely and the whole process was really enjoyable. 

I used some plastic stencils to map out some of the rough lace shapes and make sure they stay consistent, but most of the detail was freehand. 

I used very muted colours for the skull and really enjoyed that process in particular. I feel like some of the stylistic elements I want to work with more are starting to fall into place slowly, which is an encouraging feeling. 

Here are some process images : 

I sketched this piece out in my Saunders Waterford Cold Press watercolour sketchbook, and used the Winsor&Newton Colourless Art Masking Fluid to block out the rough lace detail (big lines only, I drew/painted the finer detail later on). 

This was my first time using this masking fluid, and while it still left a slight yellow cast on the paper after I removed it, it worked really well and I can confidently say I will use it again! It did not rip any of my paper surface upon removal, and came off very easily and fairly smoothly. 

I always make sure to apply my masking fluid fairly thickly, and I used a silicone brush to paint it on. 

For the skull, I mostly used muted red, payne's grey, black and sepia to create thin washes and gradually build up the detail and texture. 

I'm sorry for not taking more pictures during this process, once I'm into "the zone" I tend to forgot about everything else!

For the very fine lace detail, I started off with a fine white Posca pen but I had some trouble getting the opacity I was looking for. I also gave using a dip pen and white acrylic ink a go but had the same issue,  so I ended up using white acrylic and a brush. 

I kept the neck purposefully rough as it is not the focus of the piece. 

Once I removed the masking fluid, I shaded the lace with some washes of warm grey (payne's grey and sepia) and then added highlights with white acrylic. 

Keeping to my muted colour theme, I stayed minimalistic with the face itself, and made sure to maintain a low value range to make sure the skin tone blended into the lace appropriately. 

The whole piece took me a good two days to paint, and about 2 days to draw because of the lace detail. I was expecting myself to get fairly impatient quite quickly, but the piece ended up feeling quite meditative, and really helped me reconnect with painting. 

I have a couple more ideas for pieces of this size and style of composition (portraits, more or less), so will be sharing those with you in the coming days!

I hope you enjoyed this little break down and this latest piece, and that you are all well. 

take care lovely people,
Speak soon, 

M