The Couple

THE COUPLE, oil on canvas,  9x12.

Hello amigos mios! Thank you all for your nice comments on facebook and for visiting me here. You've all been so kind and encouraging. I feel pumped! So, here we go with another one. This is "The Couple". I found inspiration for this one while visiting National Geographic's website. This specific image is called "MOMA Monet Couple". Goodness! They have the most beautiful pictures ever. If you're looking for color, they have it. If you're in the mood for beautiful composition, they have it. Magical pictures about nature? They also have them. Beautiful people? Yep, they have pictures of them, too. Let me show you the picture that inspired this one.

MOMA Monet Couple via nationalgeographic.com 

I have to admit, this picture looks like a painting already. Don't you think? The arrangement of the couple in terms of where they are situated in the whole frame is gorgeous. Their position, the color of their clothes, hair, background... it all belongs together. This is why, amigos, National Geographic is a great resource to find inspiration.

I actually painted this one a bit over a year ago. My husband was away for training and I missed him so much I wanted to paint a couple. Actually, I NEEDED to paint a couple! And I found this one. After painting it, I realized I don't look anything like that girl. And my husband's hair is blond and straight. So I realized it belonged to somebody else... to my friends Ashley and Eric, who actually look like "The Couple". Thank you Ashley, for sending this picture!

The Couple, by Candela Rice.

Since it was created when I hadn't yet considered writing a blog, I don't have step by step pictures. But I can tell you what I did.

To that point (and I still do it a lot), I had usually just drawn whatever I wanted to paint with pencil first. On this painting, however, I never used a pencil. I outlined everything with a brush. I made myself do it. It was intimidating, but I liked the results. I used burnt umber to do the outline. For the background I did a wash of burnt sienna, cadmium red light, yellow ochre, titanium white, and light yellow. You may wonder what a wash is. It's when you dilute your paint with a lot of paint thinner. The nice thing about a wash is that it dries super quickly and it looks a bit water-colorish! (and that's nice when you have a background as complex as the one on the photograph.)

The colors I used:

Girl's hair: yellow ochre, titanium white, burnt sienna.
Guy's hair: burnt sienna, burnt amber, yellow ochre, titanium white.
Darkest shadows: burnt amber, ultramarine blue.
Skirt: cadmium red light, titanium white, some yellow ochre, ultramarine blue.
Girl's shirt: titanium white, burnt umber
Guy's shirt and pants: ultramarine blue, titanium white, burnt umber.

Things I learned from this painting:

Drawing with a brush can be intimidating, but it saves you time! It does give the painting a bit of a different feel (unless you completely paint over your outlines), more like a comic or cartoon drawing. Like this:

I'm exaggerating a bit, but you get my point. Do you see the outline and the coloring inside of it? That's what I mean. It's a different effect. Some painters never show an outline, others leave it all the time. It's a matter of taste. And... if you're wondering who "Mafalda" is, go here. She's quite the Argentine spicy little lady.

I also learned that hair is still a bit difficult to represent with paint. Hopefully the highlights on their hair let you see the resemblance with the picture.

Things I could improve/ change: 

I could add more color to the background.

The girl's arm needs a bit more muscle :)

The skirt... I never quite knew what to do with it. I probably should have just painted it brown!! I happen to love red on paintings and always want to find a place for it!

Thank you for reading and painting with me!! 

Candela