Prom Portrait of my Daughter

Part 4

By Trisha Bond

Last Wednesday marked the end of session of art lessons.  During my last class with Cristian, we identified some more areas of adjustment.  The width of the face was much too narrow thus it was widened, the ear was enlarged, the neckline was thickened .

Eyes

During the past week I've been focusing on eye detail, beginning to add depth of colour, shadow lines, hints of light and reflective qualities.  I find working in thin layers helps to build the effect of depth. Although, patience is required to achieve the effect.

Hair

I found that I also needed to shift my focus away from the skin tone for awhile and tackle a different element of the painting.  Sometimes when I've been working on a particular element for some time ( in this case skin tone and main features) I begin to fall into the trap of not being able to see the forest for the trees.

Therefore, I began working on the hair, first applying the darker blond and then a few of the golden highlights. Still a long way to go , but it's moving forward.

Goal for Next Week

I have to admit I have been avoiding the teeth up until now.   My goal for the upcoming week is to add in the shadows around the interior of the lips and along the tooth line, while defining the individual teeth As well, I plan on developing the lips to their full brightness and colour with highlights, shadows and blending the edges into the skin tone for a more natural appearance.