During one of my failed attempts at returning to art when we first moved here, I used a board that was left over from one bit of DIY or another and had great fun painting it with craft paint. I then cut out little whales and set them on the board and sprayed craft paint onto the surface. I did this with a water bottle, but it was surprisingly effective. And that was it. The board with this quite detailed, multi-layered background just sat gathering dust.
Fast forward to this week and I have been looking at photographs of nudes underwater (the nudes, not me). I can't now recall where the idea came from, but I decided if I could do one of my maidens underwater it would be quite a good way to use this board.
I found an image I liked and decided to try it in white pencil on black paper first. I'm getting much better as doing prep work and practise runs, rather than just bulling ahead and then getting into trouble. The initial sketch worked well, then I needed to decide on a size. Placing the sketch up along side the board, I actually really liked how that looked. In hindsight I should have done a dark corner on the board, fading out to the blue, and done the maiden on that.
As it was I went for a full size to fill the board. My proportions were a little off and she ended with a much longer torso than she should have. Normally this would annoy me, yet the elongated form actually suited the watery element. My sketch had straight hair, but once done, and in seeing the oops I'd done, I decided to try my preferred curls. They came in really well. Like the skin it picked up the little lumps of paint, creating an unexpected dappling effect.
Overall it came together well. I'm glad I went with the pastel. Paint would have missed the dappling effect. I suspect the board will be gessoed one of these days and become something totally different. For now she is my Whale Wench.
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