The photos below represent the next steps in painting the oil with the working title "Nude by Tree" To see the first post with the beginning steps please either scroll down through the blogs or go to, [Beginning "Nude by Tree"]

In the image to the left you will see I did what I call the initial under-painting of the figure. The colors I use for almost all skin tones are combinations of: white, yellow ochre, cadmium red & cerulean blue. The under-painting is done very cold and pale just to establish the basic patterns of light and shadow.

The face is only brought up to the point where I can feel good about the expression but not any real detail. For me, I have to keep the facial expression to my liking before I can feel good about working on the rest of the work. I guess it is as if she were real and as I would with a real woman, I would want to know, by looking at her expression, she was feeling what she should feel as we spent time together. (or something like that)

The hair will eventually be various shades of red but for now it is just roughed in with burnt sienna. The drape is put in very light with, ultramarine blue, yellow ochre and white just to establish the general shadows and flow of the drape.

The image on the right has the background with the tree again very rough just to start to establish the values and make decisions on the warm or cool of the objects.

From the beginning I have not been sure of how warm or cool I wanted the tree or how dark do I want the background. Is the tree darker than the background or the other way around? At this stage I think I have decided but the next stage will force me to finalize this. The colors used at this stage are: burnt sienna, ultramarine blue, yellow ochre and a touch of white here and there for opacity more than value.