The Harpist – Work in progress

I’ve been very quite recently and I have a very lame excuse for it. England has been having a big freeze and I most certainly am not a fan, sub zero temperatures have sent me running for the covers literally!

Anyway, the temperature has temporarily gone above Zero so I’ve started painting again. I have no idea why I chose my subject other than the fact that I’ve always loved though of harps as incredibly elegant.

 As always I started by making several sketches to plan out my painting, at first I was going to paint the picture from a far wider angle but I prefer this composition as it gives a better focus to the painting.

Once I’d decided what I was going to do I mixed up the skin tone as I have the most trouble with this, I also worked in some darker skin tone and some pinks into the cheeks. The harpist is going to have a cherub like look to her, very pouty and rosy cheeked.

Next I put the base coat on her clothes and the harp wood. The harp is going to have a light pine look with a simple medieval pattern inlaid in a darker wood. I’ll need to put a lot more work into this to make it convincing. I also want to make sure that I get the stings correct.

Finally I added the base colour for her hair, a sort of golden brown, colour to her lips and the lightest shade of blue to her eyes. I think I may have actually succeeded in not painting someone cross eyed this time but we’ll see!

Hopefully the better weather will continue so that I can keep painting!