Progress 2

Ah yes... the smell of mediums and Oil paints in the air... always a treat to lay in the first coat of Oil onto a painting journey... however, the 1st layer, as an artist friend and I like to call it: "The Ugly Layer"... is just some structure to walk on. The ugly layer, for the most part... is just to get the ball rolling, to establish a direction for what's to follow. You don't want to zombify yourself slaving over every ounce of the piece at this stage, that's just foolish... it's much easier to go back over when this layer dries, to tweak things, glaze things, push and pull...

So as you can start to see in the image... I want to push the enchanting quality of the character, by placing him/her/it... in a healthy, natural environment... something fresh, lively... something that opens up all your senses... a little touch of flowers, although somewhat obscure, went a long ways.

As I do with most my character paintings, I blurred the background... it creates contrast and helps push the details of a character... if you want something to look hot, put it next to something cold etc. It's funny how these obvious little understandings can get overlooked when developing a painting... however, it makes a big difference.