Linda Mann Artist

I knew from the start that the texture on the snakeskin handbag would be very difficult to paint. As always, the trick is to have enough detail to be convincing without painting every little bump and line! To begin, I simply put down my best guess as to the color and value. I painted the shadow area a bit darker, but still kept it light, as I plan on glazing this area later.

As I got more paint down, I could see that I got the color and value wrong. Below, you can see that I darkened and warmed it up a bit.

To begin to indicate the texture, I painted the broad wavy stripes that are the easiest part to see. The intricacies of the pattern are still beyond me at this point. It’s so confusing! I try not to get discouraged. The more you look and paint, the clearer things become. It always astonishes me, but it’s true. I also put in a glaze in the shadow areas.

Just for fun, above is a photo of the actual handbag, so you can see how complex the pattern is. Again, I do not aim to paint this in detail. I try to paint what a human can actually see from a distance of about 5 feet (the distance between me and my set-up). However, to suggest, you have to understand, so I studied this picture to get the general idea into my head. That way, when I’m looking at it from a distance, I can better understand what I’m seeing. The brain informs the eye!

Above, I’ve started putting in some of the details, painting some tiny vertical lines between the strips. The trick is to keep the value difference minimal. When you squint your eyes, it should all but disappear (just as it does when looking at the set-up). I painted more of the gold hardware on the edges, noting that even though parts are in the shadow, they still look light as they reflect the light. I painted some of the tiny stiches.

The photo above has some glare on the left, but on the right you can see the beginnings of my showing the complex patterns. As usual, I end up overstating these at first, in an effort to get it right. I’ll mute much of it at my next session. Next time, I’ll also paint some generalized detail in the shadow area. Details are always muted in the shadows. I’ll keep them very close in value to the rest of the shadow area so they won’t stand out too much.