Hooray, “Francis” is finished! The challenge for this painting was that I had two photo references to work from. One with his signature tooth-move and one with the pose I wanted. Which meant that during the painting process, I constantly had to think how things looked from a different angle. Such a fun challenge!
In the underpainting and the first few layers, I hadn’t worked out how this lip looked from this angle. It took a lot of flipping of photo’s to see it with ‘fresh eyes’, staring and bringing this painting to group coaching from New Masters Academy. The feedback I got from Britt Snyder and Catherine Bobkoski was so helpful. And armed with a new to do list, I continued.
Some edges were softened, I made the shadow underneath his chin warmer and the shadow on the left side of his face darker. But what really helped this painting a lot, was making the eyes wetter. (thanks again, coaches!) That brings so much life into it! And finishing it all off with my favorite part: the whiskers.
Now waiting for paint to dry. After varnishing and framing, he will be on view in July in Sirens Salon in Los Angeles!