Acoma Woman 1900 16" x 12" Not
American Horse Oglala Sioux 1880
18" x 14" Waterford Not
Sitting Bull Huncpapa Sioux Holy Man
15" x 11" Fabriano Artistico Not.
I've done several of Sitting Bull because he has such a strong face. Some of the others aren't bad, one posted previously, but I think this better. I recently found a new photograph on www.firstpeople.us/ . American Horse was also a famous warrior and I wanted to try a portrait with a different angle. This is the second try with a different indian subject.
As for the Acoma woman I know little about her, again culled from first people, but I was intrigued by the sense of mystery in the photograph. I have changed things quite a bit because on the photo she was surrounded by very dark shadows. I tried a main colour scheme of Maimeri Avignon Orange (PR206) and
complementary colours Rowney's Viridian (PG18) and Hookers Green (PG7/PO48) Maimeri version. There is some doubt about the inclusion of PO48 as it is now supposedly unavailable. The Windsor and Newton and Rowney equivalents to Avignon Orange are Brown Madder and Transparent Red Brown respectively. Even though the pigment is the same the colours may vary slightly with different manufacturing processes. In all three cases the faces were painted using a mixture of Cadmium Red Light (PR108), Cadmium Yellow Light (PY35) darkened where appropriate with either Cerulean (PB35), Cobalt Blue Deep (PB72) or Ultramarine Blue (PB29). I emphasize pigments rather than `colours' as suggested by Bruce McEvoy of Handprint.
I'm fairly happy with the paintings of Sitting Bull and American Horse but concerned about the Acoma woman. I experimented with the Shirley Trevena method of creating texture by using some emery paper on the coloured core of watercolour pencils and getting flecks of colour but I think it either didn't work well or I need to improve my method of doing it. It has tended to dirty the colour. Paint in haste repent at leisure! I shall another try at this one. Footnote added later: This portrait didn't work unfortunately and it just wasn't the attempt to add texture. I shall try again.
complementary colours Rowney's Viridian (PG18) and Hookers Green (PG7/PO48) Maimeri version. There is some doubt about the inclusion of PO48 as it is now supposedly unavailable. The Windsor and Newton and Rowney equivalents to Avignon Orange are Brown Madder and Transparent Red Brown respectively. Even though the pigment is the same the colours may vary slightly with different manufacturing processes. In all three cases the faces were painted using a mixture of Cadmium Red Light (PR108), Cadmium Yellow Light (PY35) darkened where appropriate with either Cerulean (PB35), Cobalt Blue Deep (PB72) or Ultramarine Blue (PB29). I emphasize pigments rather than `colours' as suggested by Bruce McEvoy of Handprint.
I'm fairly happy with the paintings of Sitting Bull and American Horse but concerned about the Acoma woman. I experimented with the Shirley Trevena method of creating texture by using some emery paper on the coloured core of watercolour pencils and getting flecks of colour but I think it either didn't work well or I need to improve my method of doing it. It has tended to dirty the colour. Paint in haste repent at leisure! I shall another try at this one. Footnote added later: This portrait didn't work unfortunately and it just wasn't the attempt to add texture. I shall try again.
One change I have made is that, following Charles Reid suggesting in one of his books that pan colours might be better with which to paint the face, I did so then switched to tube colours.