Concentration: The Empress

The Empress is card number 4 in the Major Arcana deck, and it symbolizes dual aspects of femininity, strength and beauty.  Emma Grace, who I chose to be the subject of this portrait, exemplifies both of these qualities.  Not only is she one of the most gracious and beautiful people I know, both personality wise and physically, she is strong in a way that I one day hope to be.
     Sadly, I feel that I could not capture this with my piece.  It is acrylic paint on illustration board, and the photo was one she took of herself.  The odd angle in the photo, and my difficulties with the colors in this piece were really a detriment to the overall effect.  People who have seen the piece told me they liked the simplified look, but I am disappointed that I could not capture the intricacies I could see in the photo.

Day 1

Day 3

Day 5

Day 6

One of my biggest difficulties with this piece was mixing the paint, especially the skin tone. Every time I wanted to touch up a shadow or add a highlight, I had to completely mix new color of paint because I found that it wasn't matched the to tone that I had put down before it.  
        Another difficulty was in finding the shadows themselves. The photo was taken in soft focus, and I found myself having to guess where the shadows would be if the light hadn't been so completely evened out.  Most of that happened under her chin and across her chest.
     I also had a lot of difficulty with the shape of her face, just because of how it's positioned? Also, her make up in the photo made her eyes seem bigger, and I kept drawing them twice as large as they should have been.  I think my drawing was the best part of this piece, though, and am sort of disappointed that I painted over it.
      I do like the roses, though, and her eyes.  Those were two pieces of the painting that I felt were particularly strong.  I am glad that I got this chance to work with acrylics, and hopefully next time I do so I will be able to improve even further.