For Erika step 4

The boy's shirt is now basically finished and I continued working on the woman's face. I still have many more glazes of colour before she is done. I decided to do her face first so that I have a reference for the values and skin tones in the painting before I start the boy's face. I want to use as few layers of colour in his face as possible to keep the fresh look of young skin.

For Erika step 3

The background is finished and I worked on the clothing a little. Most of the work was done on starting the woman's face. Still a long way to go on it darkening the values to mould the features. The boy's features are harder to see right now because I lightened them prior to starting the first washes. The lightest colours are there but very hard to see.

For Erika step 2

I have started with the background. There are about 4 different glazes of colour there so far and more to go. I also started the first light washes of colour in the boy's shirt and the shadows in the white blouse on the woman.

For Erika

This is the first step of a new commission I've started. It is 8 x 10". I will still have to do a little tweeking on this as I see the eyes are slightly too large on the boy now that I'm looking at it on the computer screen. I'll correct my drawing and start the background this evening.

Commission finished

After another full day of painting, the commission is finally finished. I'll hand it in tomorrow. I work all weekend but will start drawing out my next commission soon. It will only be an 8 x 10" so I can work on a table rather than the easel. It will give my back and shoulder muscles a rest.

Commission step 10

Another full day of painting. I'll do more this evening but I have to take advantage of the nice weather and go out and do some yard work. Tomorrow will be another full day but the end is in sight.

Commission step 9

I have been painting about 8 hours today. I'll do some more later this evening but it will be bad lighting for taking a photo so I took the photo now. Still lots to go but I'm seeing slightly faster progress now the buildings are mostly done.

Commission step 8

I worked some more on it this evening. I'm hoping the larger areas that will be trees goes faster than the tiny houses did. I'll do a lot more tomorrow since I have to work on Monday and it will limit the time to paint that day.

Commission step 7

This afternoon I continued to work my way down the painting mostly on the right side. This is a close-up of the top half of the painting.

Commission step 6

I concentrated on the city part of the painting as well as more trees. Still a long way to go and time is getting shorter. The green strip on the right side of the painting is just the masking tape holding it to the board. The camera was slightly angled when I took the photo.

Commission step 5

I didn't have much time for painting today because I had to sleep this morning after working nightshift as well as preparing for a watercolour class I am teaching this evening. I worked some more on the trees. Not much progress but I thought I should post what I've done today.

Commission step 4

This morning I continued working down from the top of the painting adding background trees and the generating station at the top left. I also painted in the roads so I don't lose sight of them. I still have many more washes of colour to add to the trees up there but the distant shapes are sorting themselves out.

Commission Step 3

I am home from Toronto and can get started again on the painting. Today I put in the first washes on the clouds and started adding the trees in the background. I am working from the top to the bottom since that part is farther away and will be lighter and slightly blue due to aerial perspective. The photo is only of the top part of the painting so you can see more of the details.