First, we start with where the painting was at the beginning of class:
And THIS is where it ended up:
As always, a pic of what I'm aiming for:
What I notice immediately is the shading on the darker gray areas. Or rather, the color in general of the darker gray areas. It's too dark. And the light gray is too light. The light gray on the face is getting toward the right shading/color so I should use it as a reference. I think the dark gray of the foot might be close to accurate as far as the dark gray is concerned (it's a little too light on the lighter side of the foot but it's still the best dark gray on the canvas right now).
I slathered on a lot of background paint this go 'round and I think I'm getting the basic dark/light lay out framed in. It might not really show in that small pic, but the dark swath across the middle of the photo has a very green tinge to it. And the very light color at the top has a noticable blue hue to it as well. So I worked with that this time around, to kind of get down the right base to build on. And I put in the shadow (under Timothy's legs) just for kicks. Sometimes I do that, dabbling in something a bit too early just so I can get a feeling of what the finished painting could be (kind of proving to myself that I will get to that stage eventually).
I also slapped some paint on the edges of the canvas, too. I'm bad about that, usually leaving the edges glaringly white (and I don't frame anything so it's very cheap looking).
BONUS PIC:
My work station. I wanted to get a snap of my pallette (just for kicks) and I kind of liked how this looked (with the photo behind the pallette and all teh painting clutter around). Yeah, I have to set up my work station the same way every time, like a painting ritual. My paint thinner jar has to be on the left of the oil jar and I have to have a paper towel diaper in front of both. And I have to oil up my brushes (and wipe it off on the diaper) before I start painting. It's silly, but I think it lubes them up and gets them ready for painting, kind of wakes them up.
I love how well used my pallette looks, too. But I'll admit, the first time I used it and had to wipe the leftover paint off and the plastic didn't return to its pristine white plastic sheen, I was miffed (and a bit grossed out). It was like the pallette was ruined because I hadn't been careful enough to use it correctly. But now I like seeing each layer of paint adding a new shiney sheen to it. And I like how the back is even stained up a bit even though I don't remember ever using it (though I may have accidentally put paint on it at some point). And I like how everyone's pallette looks different. Mine is very earth tone, being very brown/gray at the top and fading to a lighter color down where you hold it. My wife's pallette has a lot more color to it and feels like it has more layers of paint on it, like he doesn't scrub it off as hard after each use (I tend to really scrub mine because I can't stand the idea of it leaving greasy paint marks randomly on other stuff).
And I'm a bit excited to report that the wife and I have just about used up our very first full tube of paint! Somehow that seems like an accomplishment, like we really are "painters" that it's not just some whim where you buy all the stuff then abandon it in a closet. And let me just say, getting the last little paint squirts out of the tube is a royal pain in the fingers. I thought it would be akin to milking the toothpaste tube but it's far harder (duh, the tube is metal, not plastic, dingus!). It's annoying when I bear down and squeeze and squeeze and a little turdlet of paint slowly prairie dogs out of the tube and when I go to wipe it off on the pallette I reduce the tension just enough that the paint sucks back up into the tube. NOOO!!
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