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Monica Vanzant

Southern
NJ
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"Quite Simply, I am a painter. Welcome to my site."

Monica Vanzant

  • Mixed Media Abstract
  • Welcome
  • SHOP
  • Home
  • Landscapes and Interiors
  • Figurative
  • Still Life
  • Narrative
  • Bio
  • Blog
  • Tutorial
  • Projects
  • Favorite Links
  • Contact

Tutorial

"Paint everything you can as often as possible. Do this and you will continue to grow as an artist."

Tutorial

"Paint everything you can as often as possible. Do this and you will continue to grow as an artist."

The Dutch Maid - V1

The Dutch Maid - V1

V1 - The Beginning. One of my favorite stages of painting. A point that can be the start of something beautiful or could end in total disaster. I stretched this one myself using oil-primed belgian linen as the support. I did not do a preliminary sketch so, as you can see I was "feeling my way" around the composition. Which is a great segway into the 1st rule broken: Never have a horizon line in the middle of your composition. Yes, I did this on purpose. Once I decided to have a landscape behind my center of interest (COI) and a curtain to drape her, I knew dividing the composition in half would make things work. With a horizon line too high, it would hit the drape; Too low and it would touch her shoulders. Since either situation would have been unacceptable, I chose to place horizon line in the middle. I think this decision helped makes this composition more cohesive and adds just enough interest to improve and not detract.
Once the sketch was completed, I set it with charcoal fixative (outside!) and let it rest.
A few hours later I used a thin mixture of raw umber and naptha to tint my canvas. (Sometimes I tint the canvas first and then sketch but I wanted to do something different).

The Dutch Maid - V2

The Dutch Maid - V2

V2 - The 2nd stage begins with using raw umber to produce some values. This is when I decide which direction my light is coming from. I continue to use raw umber, but this time it is cut with equal parts turpentine and dammar varnish. This gives me the three-dimensional quality I need to judge how I am going to proceed and this decision depends on what I want the finally outcome to be.
I have a choice now to paint directly or glaze. I decide to glaze everything except the sky but this will be shown later. Time to move on to step 3.

The Dutch Maid - V3

The Dutch Maid - V3

V3 - I paint in my values using the grey value scale. As you can see, I have only done this for the parts of the composition that are going to be glazed (Have you noticed her features have changed? I hate when this happens...). It shows that a tiny shadow here and a little highlight there can change the entire look of a person (even one that you have invented from your imagination!). I am not happy with it so you may notice me "tweaking" the features until the face in my imagination has reappeared.

The Dutch Maid - V4

The Dutch Maid - V4

V4 - Time to start the sky. No bells and whistles here. I kept it very, very simple. I want nothing to detract from my COI. I needed a cool blue to set it back as far as possible so I used ultramarine blue. I also worked on the face and headdress some more.

The Dutch Maid - V5

The Dutch Maid - V5

V5- On to the glazing! I love this part. What you see here is after eight glazing sessions on the face, drape, landscape and dress. (Sorry, I forgot to take photo's). Due to drying time, this took approx. two months total. I have also worked on the sky and added a few clouds. Here I broke the 2nd rule: Adding a color that is nowhere else in your painting - the red drape. I did add a little bit of the red in the landscape and dress but overall the color hue of the drape is unique to the rest of the painting. But again, I believe the warmth plays well against the sky, compliments the landscape and definitely stops your eye from falling out of the painting. (By the way, I use no turpentine when glazing - Just a glazing medium.)

The Dutch Maid - V6

The Dutch Maid - V6

V6 - Now I have had a few more glazing sessions, working the painting until I am satisfied. I have lightened the shadow side of the headdress. I felt there was too much contrast. After that dried I glazed the cap for the first time using yellow.

The Dutch Maid - V7

The Dutch Maid - V7

V7 - I fine-tuned everything. I glazed the headdress blue, worked on the sky and glazed the drapes for the last time. After this dried, I added a few opaques in the headdress for added highlight. I am now happy with the face again! "The Dutch Maid" is completed. And it only took six months....

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