Sunday, June 21, 2015

Fourth of July - Part 1

When my wonderful brother and his family were in town recently he showed me a picture of his beautiful kiddos from the last fourth of July.

Me: "Send that to me, I want to paint it!"

I painted the background gray, sketched
the image, and started adding color.
I added more colors and features.
It's acrylic, not watercolors.
Those were just on the table from another project.
I started working on flesh tones and clothing wrinkles.
Beside it is the image I was working from.
It's an altered version of the original photo.
Altering it helps me in the beginning stages of painting.
I think her shirt is too narrow and there are a few other things that don't feel quite right, but it'll wait until tomorrow. Excited to add more details, too!

This photo makes me think of how we celebrated the fourth of July when I was a kiddo. I don't remember ever dressing in red, white, and blue, but I do remember going down to the the fireworks on Town Lake and how when the cannons boomed during the "1812 Overture" I felt like my heart skipped a beat. Good family fun! And now, as an adult, I live where I can actually see the fireworks from my house...if I don't mind standing in the middle of my street and looking over a bunch of trees. Works for me...and my dog, who prefers that we stay home during the fireworks, thank you very much.

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2 comments:

  1. Looks like you've got a winner going there, Kali. Thanks for sharing your process. Love the story. Dogs and fireworks... I knew my sweet Maddie was deaf when the fireworks didn't scare her anymore, but our big lab still tries crawling under the bed on the 4th.

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    1. Aw, such sweet dogs. I'm just working on writing my blog with the completed painting. Such a joy to paint this one. I don't think I'll be selling this one. I bet my brother will want it, but he'll have to wait till after August. I've got a small show and I want it to be a part of it. :-)

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