Hypno-Powers finished. 24×36 inches.
After writing about starting this painting, “Hypno-Powers” last week I can now write about finishing it. That’s because this week I finished it. It took me seven days over an eight day period but I got it done.
There was more left to do on it than I thought. I finished the base painting on day three and often that’s the part that takes me the longest but it actually went quickly this time and the rest of the painting took me another four days.
It turned out that the base painting was a lot simpler than in other paintings that I have recently made. That made the bits, bobs, and strokes of color that go over the base painting a lot more complicated.
Let me start with the background first because I had no idea what I was going to do with it in the beginning. The whole time I was painting the base color of the face I was wondering what I should do with the background.
In the small 5×7 inch cards that this image came from I usually either have a watercolor background from dark to light or a two tone colored marker background with one color on top and another color on the bottom with no blending between them. This works fine at the small size but I needed something different for this painting.
With the first painting that I did this year “Around Nine” I also had a face looking out at us and the background was a series of shapes of color. This helped with the overall composition and sense of space of the painting. But this painting didn’t need that since the space of the painting is more of a mug shot space. Just the face and words make up the world of this painting and it’s an immediate feeling of us being with them.
I ended up going with a grid of color because I think that emphasizes the immediacy of the space between the painting and the viewer. It has a flatness to it that brings the face forward right into our space. Since I transferred the original drawing to the canvas via a grid I already had a grid drawn on the canvas. That made painting the orange and yellow grid a lot easier.
After painting the grid I started wondering if I should add more bits of color to it. I kind of wanted to but then thought it would take away from it being a regular grid. I wasn’t looking for an irregular grid. I ended up giving the grid more texture. I don’t know how well it comes across in a photo but inside the orange squared I painted a box out of four brush strokes in the same orange as the box. It gives the viewer something else to look at as they approach the painting.
After I painted the grid it began to remind me of the transparency grid in Photoshop. Anyplace that is transparent in a Photoshop document usually has a white and grey grid showing on it. You can also change the color of the transparency grid in Photoshop. I have mine set to pink and purple. Here it is set to orange and yellow!
I mentioned the lettering last week and I didn’t know exactly how I was going to finish it. I thought maybe I would paint over the letters in white and still be able to see them to repaint them in dark purple again. But the white paint was too opaque for that. So I painted around the letters in white to give the balloon some texture and presence and then repainted the lettering. I moved quickly and sloppily with the white paint since I knew I would be repainting the lettering. I think it worked out fine in the end. Plus it didn’t take up a tedious amount of time.
The most amount of time was spent in those last four day figuring out all the little bits of color in the painting. Just like with “Around Nine” I started with the eyes and they took a while. I didn’t have to fix the basic drawing on the eyes like I did with “Around Nine” but it still took all morning. From about 8AM to around 11AM that fourth morning.
The main thing about the eyes is that I want them to come alive. I find that the key to the whole image. When they’re just the basic colors the eyes blend in with the rest of the painting. I want them to stand out. So I use tiny strokes of color to build up a liveliness in that area of the painting. I don’t have any formula on how to do it so I just build the eyes up bit by bit.
For the bits of color in the rest of the painting I do two things. The first is to stare at the painting and imagine adding colors to it. I run through colors in my mind and try to figure out what needs to go where. This is usually linear in that first I decide I need a green outline on the left side, I paint the outline, and then I look again to see what else I should add.
The second method is to take a photo of the painting, bring that photo into Procreate on my iPad, and then try out bits of color. I didn’t use the iPad much with this one. I used it more on the first two painting of this summer.
Both of these methods rely heavily on experience and instinct. I figure out the base colors in a color sketch, and the Procreate method could be considered a color sketch too, but most of the color decisions are in the moment. A little blue here and a little red there.
At times I put down a couple of marks of color and then decide that they’re wrong. I have to make that decision quickly and clean the paint off the painting before it dries.
I know I’m finished with the painting when no more color or marks suggest themselves. Throughout most of the painting I’ll put down some red and that means I’ll need some blue here which means some yellow there. After some contemplation one color mark will lead me into the next. Until they don’t.
At some point in time I look at the painting and nothing suggests itself. At that point I’m done. Then I sign the painting and put it away for a few days. Then I’ll look at it in a few days to see if any final bits suggest themselves. Usually they don’t but occasionally they do. But I always give a painting that final look.