Hand Study #4

"Hand Study #4", Acrylic on Panel, 5x7"

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Here's the last hand study for the week.   I'm off to great northwest to see family (and escape the heat!).  I'll post again starting in September.   I think the break will be good for me - a creative recharge.

Touch

"Touch", Acrylic on Panel, 7x5"

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This is my favorite so far.  It's still not easy, but getting easier.  The key seems to be keeping the paint very thin.

One more day and then I'm off to Seattle for a couple of weeks, so I'll be taking a break from painting.  Too bad, since I just got another batch of great reference photos. Only one of the two I booked for today turned up (a hazard of hiring via Craigslist), but she was great.

Hand Study #2

"Hand Study #2", Acrylic on Panel, 5x7"

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I figure if I just keep doing these, eventually hands will become easy.  Right now, that's not the case...

Father & Daugher

"Father & Daughter", Acrylic on Panel, 7x5"

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It's a day late, but here's the first of my hand studies.  I pressed my husband and daughter into modeling for me.  I like the delicate, almost watercolor, feel.

I did actually do one yesterday, but discovered that using re-gessoed boards (w/lumps because I didn't sand it down first) doesn't translate well to this sort of subtle work.  I then tried to go w/a thicker, more expressionistic style to fix it, but it just ended up looking more scabrous than before.  I know I was supposed to post it regardless...but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

Feather

"Feather", Acrylic on Panel, 30x40"

A new color scheme, as promised.  I like how this one turned out.  It really captures the way the light looked coming through the branches.  It's different from most of the trees that I tend to pick, since the branches are spindly rather than thick and gnarled.

This next week I'm planning on doing a series of hand studies for my daily paintings.  Perhaps not the most exciting, but it will help refine my technique for the figure paintings.   And who knows, maybe they'll be interesting on their own.