Unfinished Business

Back to work today, and my goal is to wrap up loose ends.  My last three paintings are not quite finished, so it’s time to take care of that.

First I varnished the portrait of Walt.  I don’t think it needs any additional painting, but I’ll let the varnish dry and then evaluate.

Then I worked on pooch portrait.  The left side floor area had been bothering me, so I went radical and applied dark earth green, covering the ocher/brown tones.  Then I repainted the couch to try to both unify the shape and help the canine separate from the background.

I then turned attention to the portrait of my sister.  Something about it just didn’t gel.  In addition, my mom didn’t think it looked like her.  I think my use of orange/red tones was a factor.

If someone’s mom doesn’t like a portrait of their kid, it demands attention.

I started by darkening the background, to try to achieve better separation between foreground and background. I stuck with the warm tones, but am not convinced it’s the right way to go.  Next session, I’ll probably try to cool off the background.

I think just darkening the value is helping, but does not quite do the trick.