And then there were four…in a series that is.

Working four in a series

I am a very slow painter.  Backgrounds are a struggle so the first thing I do with this series is to decide to keep the background as simple as possible and have the same blue running through all four paintings.

Once again, I ask the the question...

What if?

What if I do the skin tones on all of them at once?  What if I make up a story in my mind about how all these characters are linked together?  Will this help me paint faster?  get more done?

"If necessity is the mother of invention, curiosity is the father. After all, you cannot produce something interesting if you are not interested in something. Outputs need inputs." ~ Will Gompertz, Think Like an Artist.

By now, you must know that I love painting faces, particularly female faces.

This is the first painting in a series of four small canvases following Regina Lord's style of painting. I love her colourful, uplifting work.

One man in the series

I very rarely paint men because they tend to look like women.

This young man is all man. Obviously, he just came in from the cold, and someone decided to take his picture before he could warm up. See the red tip of his nose and his pink cheeks?

Or maybe he is very shy and would rather hide, but he really has nowhere to go and he is far too polite to refuse the request for the photo.

Notice that he is looking to the side rather than directly at the camera? Who could be taking his picture?

A favourite painting in the series

"A caged bird" is my favourite of the four paintings.

After I had painted the background, the white lines reminded me of prison bars. The vines with the flowers make the background seem less stark.

So which one is the caged bird?

Of the four in this series, "Windblown hair" is the one I like the least.

After I photographed her, I brought her back to my art room where I really messed her up. Of course, I exaggerate. She is redeemable, but I just don't feel like working on her AGAIN.

Hubby, who is always supportive, says she is just fine the way she is in the photograph.

As I was not happy with her, I uploaded her into Procreate and made changes and then played with filters in various apps while watching tv one night. I like this version below best because of the raindrops that seem appropriate with the painting.

I am not sure whether or not I saved any time in painting four in a series. I am such a slow painter that it might not have made any difference at all.

The process is worth repeating if only to give me that illusion that I am accomplishing more than I really am.

Besides, in painting several in a series, I can always rationalize that even if one is not to my liking, I still have a few more that are.

I imagine that once I find techniques and styles that I like and make them my own, working in a series will indeed save me time and I will be as productive as many of my artist friends.

Until then, each step, each experiment is part of that long road that I have taken in becoming an artist.

Output doesn't always match input.