JACK RED CLOUD ON YUPO!

I finally have the small room off the living room in our house called "the library" (because it has book shelves) set up to paint in. With winter coming, the garage studio is very cold and drafty. It took quite a bit of cleaning out but I think it will work out nicely. I purchased an Ott Light for the room. Now I have the "natural light" even at night.

This is my first painting in my new work space. It is still a work in progress. My order for Yupo came in, so I thought I would try to work on it for a change of pace. The first pass was a very wet mingled wash using New Gamboge, Indian Red, and Ultramarine Blue. I wanted the colors more muted for this subject, so I picked a dull red. I also love the rich darks this color helps create. While the wash was wet, I drew 2 faces onto the paper with a blue watercolor crayon. The crayon pushes the paint away from it and it also starts to dissolve, creating a very interesting effect. The pushing of the paint only happens the first time. Subsequent marks into a wet wash don't have the same chemistry. I let the painting dry.

Second pass I started to build the structure of the face using the same three colors with the addition of Payne's Gray. Notice the watercolor crayon marks in the hair. This is how the crayon works on this paper after there is paint on the page. Nice but quite different from the first.

I have worked some more on this painting today but haven't photographed it yet. They came to clean the carpets today so the dinning room furniture is in the breakfast room and the living room furniture is in my new "studio/library" and the carpet has to dry 24 hours before the furniture goes back....so I can't get back to my painting for awhile. Anyway, I feel like I am putting paint on and then taking it off, then putting more on then taking it off, yada, yada, yada. Yupo can be frustrating but I am having fun. I want to make sure to capture the hauntingly proud and resentful expression in this face.