"Prey, Grace" (12x24 oil on panel) painting process

Greetings Steemians and Artists,

Aaaaaah...finally finished. These excellent models (Fox and Tim) have inspired several dual-figure paintings. For obvious reasons, these paintings usually take longer to complete.

detail

Here is the first stage. I've divided the panel into quadrants to help me lay out the proportions more efficiently (drawn with a paintbrush in raw umber):

I start painting the focal center. At this point, I wasn't sure what alterations I'd be making to her face:

Adding the second portrait:

Starting the bodies:

Refining bodies. I spent significant time on those clasped hands. That is prime audiobook/podcast listening territory 😅⛏:

Clouding the eyes and starting the hawk:

Refining the hawk and trying color alterations on the edges of the focal portrait:

Refining everything and eventually getting to that lace shawl:

And the finished painting, "Prey, Grace" (12x24 oil on panel):

High res image link can be found here.

Some paintings are seem nearly impossible to photograph. Not because of reflection—that’s easy—but because of values and saturation. It took a mashup of 4 heavily corrected photos just to get it to look like it does in person.

More paintings featuring these models can be found in my website gallery.

Thanks for reading! -David

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