a few weeks ago I mentioned an upcoming project for Mr Chuck Gillies period costume illustration class.
Well now it's finished!
As a challenge to myself I tried to paint with a brighter, more saturated palette for this piece. Ordinarily I paint in very muted colors, so this time I forced myself to go brighter by purchasing a swanky new tube of cerulean blue and I even used a couple squirts of that veridian green I despise so much.
I also experimented with collage in this piece but ended up painting over it before the day was through. I screenprinted a pattern of fish scales for the mermaid's tail, that I collaged in, with calamitous results. Lesson learned: unlike oil based inks for linocut printing, the waterbased screenprinting inks will run and fall apart when gone over with a brush of matte medium. Patterns fades, everything else gets muddied, and the whole thing looks a mess. Vigorous palette-knifing was needed to correct that failed experiment.
However, I now have a pile of pages of screenprinted fish scale pattern. I have an idea for a project that could utilize them, esp. now that I know I will have to treat the pages with crystal clear or some other fixative before they are touched by a wet brush.
I looked a lot at Cornwell for this piece, and though it had its trials, I am pleased with the results. In the end, there were several of my classmates who did images of pirates interacting with mermaids for this project, but I was the only one with the balls to do my mermaid tits out.
6 comments:
ima going to buy one of yer paintins!
I was thinking this looked a lot like a Cornwell study. Nice illustration, really admire your thorough referencing and prominent oil use. Also the tits out was a good call :)
Also, it might be the photography, but I think you could push the saturation. There isn't an area that dominates well enough--like your shapes kind of even out in value. Just a thought...
i regret clicking on the tits link.
but very beautiful painting nevertheless
Very rad painting. Sucks that the scales didn't work out, but eh, it happens. Never the less, I would have never known that bit, and it still looks amazing.
good tips, mr. rossell.
i really need the encouragement to go bright. when i paint, I seem to be constantly pushing myself to mute the colors more. Its also interesting you suggest I should push contrast, because I am also constantly trying to reign in my contrast as i paint, so maybe next time I should just go nutz with the contrast.
and anna lisa, i put that link in there so that YOU specifically would be suckered into navigating to juggworld. you fell for it hook line and sinker, did you not?
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