Warm all over...

This was my class demo at The Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art yesterday, 20 x 24.

It was a fun class all around with a lot of laughter in the room and some great paintings being done. I think everyone was inspired by the FLAPPER get-up and wistful pose.

I chose to work on a warm ground rather than my usual cool. I find it more of a challenge. It is easier for my eye to judge color and value at the beginning of a sitting on a cool ground. Don't ask me why. Maybe it is just because I am just used to that although I vaguely recall Richard Schmid saying that somewhere too in an article. Hard to work on a very warm ground with skin tones.

However, I really like the effect of a somewhat muted warm ground showing through, for instance, in the shadows of the hair and breast area.  I also really like a very warm ground in landscape painting, say Burnt Sienna.

I chose to really push the sitter's skin toward an overeall cool rather than warm even though she was really quite olive in reality. But I wanted cool in the light, warm in the shadow to make use of that warm ground. I had a plan!

One of my students commented that it must be great to get to the point in painting when you are able to be more interpretative of what is in front of you. To give yourself permission as an artist to make it how YOU want it to be.  I liked that thought...