More Jesse

Painting Jesse, update #3

I haven't had a lot of time to paint in the last couple of days but I did get some work done on the Jesse painting.  I concentrated on the lower half of the painting and also started to add color to her white blouse.  If you are not a painter you might ask why color and not just use white and make the shadows gray.  Light doesn't work that way.  When finished you will perceive her blouse as white but except for perhaps the brightest hightlights pure white is not used at all.  There is pale yellow, light blue and lavender and pink.  Put a white cloth in the sunlight and squint at it and you will see what I mean.  Using just white and perhaps some gray for the shadows would make the painting dull and chalky looking.  The shaded half of her blouse in this painting will also have to take into consideration the warm glow given off by the deep, reddish color of the wall.  That is why the underpainting you see looks rather pink here.
     I was bothered by the strong highlight on the window molding that seemed to pop right out of the top of the tea pot in the earlier post.  I have toned down the highlight with lavender as it hits the finial on the teapot and when the silver is more finished than it is now that will become an even smaller problem.  During the next session I want to get to work on Jesse's arms and hands and improve the modeling and flesh tones.  Before I finished for the day I added a small bluish highlight under her chin which is brought about by the reflection of her white blouse on her flesh.  The accent serves to delineate her chin. 
      Tomorrow perhaps more about the pond.