The Mississippi Queen riverboat used to cruise the Ohio River and dock at Madison, Indiana. The passengers would disembark and spend a few hours touring this historic town. This is my rendition of the boat.
Some things to notice: The areas in shadow on the side of the boat are painted a bluish shade. Look at the top at smokestacks and other areas. Where the sunlight hits it is painted white, even with a tiny touch of yellow but the shadow side is blue. Notice how it works. Also look at the reflections under the boat. This makes the water “wet.”
The placement of the boat over the bottom edge of the hills gives the impression of distance.
You will see I used atmospheric perspective. The closer persons are painted larger, while those further away are smaller. The closer ones are more clearly portrayed and those in the distance are less defined and the colors ared faded.
I love doing portraits. I finished this one last night and delivered it this morning. The subject is a woman who died two weeks ago.
This painting is from my advanced figure painting class when I was a student at the University of Utah. The model was in a low-light setting. You will notice that only the essentials are portrayed — the eyes, nose and mouth. She is basically silhouetted. The eyes are in a shadow, so only the eyelid is shown. Note the highlights on the eyelid, the nose and chin. The back wall is painted light, giving contrast to the figure. The top part of her body is lighted, but the other is in shadow. The shadow is one dark shape.
I’m paddling with my daughter and her two children. My grandson, Jacob, is enthralled by the water. He leans over to drag his hand through it. My daughter, Sarah, grabs his pants to keep him from falling in.
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