I thought that it would be helpful to watch the basket progress. For a viewer looking at the finished painting, it might seem bewildering how one can achieve a finished effect. Knowing that it doesn’t all happen at once de-mystifies the process.
As you’ve seen, I start with a simple monochrome underpainting. The paint layer is very thin, with no medium added. Edges are kept sharp, and details are omitted. Below, I’ve begun to paint the local colors on top of the dried underpainting. Since it’s hard to judge colors at this early stage, I just give it my best guess. I can correct later. For now, I’m not worrying about reflected lights, soft edges, or any subtleties.
Below, most of the underpainting is covered, which was my goal for now. In the course of this first layer, I had to correct small errors in my drawing. This always happens no matter how careful I am.
I’m skipping ahead a bit in the next photo, but you can see how I’ve gone back over everything- refining and adjusting colors, values and shapes. I’ve softened edges and smoothed transitions.
Here are some close-ups to help you see the refining process. Everything is pretty simply indicated at the beginning.
At this point, I could see that all of the colors were too saturated. Below, I’ve made the colors less bright, added some shadows and highlights, and began softening edges. I had to re-see and re-do some of the drawing, which was frustrating, but necessary.
I continued to refine in the photo below. It’s getting close to being done, but there’s still much to do before I’ll be satisfied.
Linda Mann Artist 