by Lisa Larrabee
La Primavera
Oil 24" x 18"
artist Lisa Larrabee
This painting is of a mother, pregnant with her second child, interacting with her young daughter. I took photo references very informally in her home, where her daughter was more relaxed. Blooming magnolia trees were added in Photoshop to create the more symbolic setting of springtime and renewal.
I began this piece by toning a 24” x 18” museum series gesso-board panel with a thin wash of burnt sienna. Once dry, I used a blue toned transfer paper to accurately put my drawing onto the board. So as not to lose the accuracy of the transfer, I carefully began blocking in the face and branches in oil using only brown and white. I continued with key elements like the hands and face of the girl. In areas where the values were too similar to the background, I painted some darker values into the background to help keep the value relationships aligned.
I decided to paint the background in sections so that I could work the colors wet into wet in order to keep the edges soft. I started with carefully placed blue shapes so that I would not need to try and paint the lighter flowers over the top. This section was somewhat experimental for me. I painted back over branches and used a large soft brush to periodically soften shapes and blur edges. I planned to bring the rest of the background to this level of completion in order to make more informed decisions about how to paint in the foreground.
You may have noticed that my style for blocking in this stage changed from how I began. This is because I took a break from this painting to complete a landscape, but part way through I wasn’t excited about it. I took a chance and completely repainted the landscape. I also started experimenting with galkyd gel. This allowed for some translucency while still holding brushstrokes. I loved painting with it! It made me excited to get back to this painting. Whenever possible, I choose to loosely block in the whole painting instead of one piece at a time. It allows me to get a better sense of how the entire painting will develop.
While painting the background, I realized that I needed to soften it because it felt too busy. I scumbled over most of it with titanium white cut with Liquin impasto. I used white to brighten the background, but also to diffuse the edges because it is opaque and covers what is beneath it. Even though the background was not finished, it was developed enough to move on to other areas in order to bring the painting into balance.
I painted the foreground branches and let them dry so that I could block in the shadow color for the flowers very loosely. The color was tricky because it looked green. I kept rechecking the color and trusting that the reason it looked green was because so much of the red-orange from the under-painting was visible. Once I adjusted the color of the dresses, the flowers began to feel more accurate. Saying that color is relative is an understatement.
I pushed my value range as went over different areas, primarily by adding more light values, but also by repainting over some key branches. There was a lot of walking away from the easel to see how each change affected the entire piece. I feel that it all pulled together and captured what I had envisioned for this painting.
~ Lisa
