ON THE EASEL Glazing, Fat, Lean & Local while Going back in Time 200 Years

So here is the completion of my Memory Project guy, what a 5 year old cutie? (you can see last post for earlier steps)...

Austin

oil on canvas 11 1/2" X8"

2019

Also finished this from sitting and photo...she might dog sit my pooches sometime...

The Luminous Miss M

Oil on Stretched Canvas 16”x12”

2019

She was double lit with red and blue lights so that made for some fun play of light shadow and color!

LOCAL GLAZING

Learned a new process for these that I am in love called Lean over Fat but I don’t like the name because it is misleading.  Really fat over lean leads to cracked painting, so I am renaming it Fat Over Local Glaze.  How egotistical of me, right? ;)  But what can I say? I like direct labels, makes for better comprehension for my students.

BACK IN TIME and LONG DUE RECOGNITION

Anyway, this new assignment is a copyist and self portrait combination...reminds me a bit of Kehinde Wiley’s Work.   I decided to go with an incredibly prolific lady artist who is about 200 years past getting her due!  Elisabeth Vigee La Brun.  

Well off, crazy talented (both thanks to support from Daddy-o), and real hardworking - this chick painted for the French royalty right before the guillotine showed up.  In fact Marie Antionette once canceled an appointment to just hang with EVB and even picked up her paints when EVB spilled them all! So when the revolution came, EVB and her kids (yup working mom here) peaced out for what she thought was going to be like 6 months tops but turns into 13 years! Don’t stress though, it all worked out okay for EVB and co. since she was able to just bounce and paint around all the royal courts in Europe. 

Hit the link on her name above to read all about it...

Anyway here is her self portrait painted in 1800 when she was she was about 45.  

Dang, I wish I looked that good at 45! 

A little artistic license perhaps, EVB?

So I went ahead and found an (oldish) photo of me around 35ish and began my work.  Here is the work in progress after the first pass using my newly named technique of Fat over Local Glaze...

So this is just glaze haven’t gone lean or fat yet...

The watercolorist in me loves the way I can keep the contour lines (at least in the beginning) and do not have to commit to the base color necessarily to the work ...I like how this technique keeps the some options open while others are tight and intact.  

PS the biggest oil I have done in a while...think might may be my new go-to dimensions, its not a monster yet I am truly digging all the extra real estate.