Gaze Upward

What I want it to be.
It isn't.
It never is.

Pre-person stage.

It was CLOSE, at least. I REALLY liked the idea of it, and I REALLY liked the first part of it. Little Melissa kind of depressed me when she tried to guess what it was (She thought it was snowing... and that the person was watering the ground...), so I'll tell you. This is a painting of a girl in a forest, letting her flashlight hang limp in her hand as she is lost in pondering the stars.  My "inspiration" came at Girls Camp, as I stared at the stars... a lot. (I am slightly obsessed with the stars and moon, as you now know.) I call it "Gaze Upward." (One of the daily Camp themes)

 I took a great deal of care with the next part of the painting. I even incorporated 3 real constellations. (If you can't see them, don't tell me.)

This is with the flash., and with the "Completed." It shows the trees better.

This is without the flash. It is almost what I wanted it to be. There is just one problem....

I'm no good at painting people. The landscapes I do have a chance at looking good or even realistic... but not my people. 

I'm not good at painting people. Though, to be fair... I've only ever painted three of them.
One was a self portrait that looks NOTHING like me.

I struggled with this, working on it for weeks (in a painting class) without finding the right skin color. Then, I found it.... and was almost done within an hour.

This is number two.

I think I can compliment myself on the dress, which looks "realistic," but the girl looks as pasty as Snow White and as flat in complexion as a sub-average cartoon.

...Which leads us to this, my third and last painted person. (Not counting silhouettes... those don't count.)

 

The hands and face.... no detail, no realism... it kind of ruins the painting.


 

My excuses. 1) This is the first time I have done a major project with this kind of Acrylic paint. It is called "Heavy Body" and a little goes... nowhere.
 2) It was pretty ambitious, as this is one of the very few paintings that I have done without a reference of any kind.
3) Painting light is hard, and there is a lot to consider. This painting includes both a flood of light (from the flashlight), and a lack of light (just the stars), which makes it even harder.

I spent a LOT of time on this, and I'm proud of that. It wasn't the usual "oh no! I forgot to do a Work of the Week, and will now sit down and do something late Sunday night" kind of thing.
I did layers, I took time with trees, I looked up constellations to include, I watched the hours fly by. I used a wooden model for the person, and sketched it. My family members checked in periodically. When I told mom that I wanted to make the person a child instead of a teenager, she advised me against it because--and I quote-- "Children shouldn't be in the forest alone in the middle of the night."
I love my Mom. It kind of reminded me of this one part in the 2010 Emma, where Mr. Woodhouse said, "Shouldn't she be wearing a more substantial shawl?"

I'll show it to you one more time.
.


... I think I'm proud of it anyway.