This is more for my benefit than anything... seems to help if I write down my thoughts on what I'm doing and maybe get some input on what my artist friends think as well...

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Watching that video on Don Dos Santos yesterday did wonders for my muse... it was just the kick in the pants that I needed.

I've decided to pick this one back up and try to either start over, or work out the bumps in the road on the original...



The background as you can see is very dark... I know I didn't think on my colors long enough and started painting it without any real idea of what I wanted to do. I originally painted it yellow ochre with shades of alizarin crimson, then realized that it was going to be too similar to Kirana. At this point my only choice was to make the background darker, so I chose paynes gray with lots of salt, as of now I'm really unsure if I like how it turned out... yeah it has a lot of interesting texture, but it also has a ton of salt residue that I can't even scrub off. To me it seems too dark because there are going to be lots of dark colors, her hair will be black, along with her wings... the mask will be red/black and gold, her dress will be black/red gold... and of course the white skin. I could always slightly lighten the area around the figure with either acrylics or gouache... just so it pops a bit from the background...

Then... there's the second one I started, I decided to go a little larger to fill up more of the white space, now I'm not so sure I like it larger. >.<

maybe I'll just stare at it a bit longer to see if something hits me.



"Art is the stored honey of the human soul, gathered on wings of misery and travail." ~Theodore Dreiser, Life, Art, and America, 1917