Before the Rain Comes

in art •  7 years ago  (edited)

2018 has been feeling like it has been off to a bit of slow start for me. How about you? Everything seems to be taking longer than normal and this recent painting is no exception.

I already presented some updates previously, and now I can finally deliver the finished work.


In the original photo reference, the model had her arms pulled in, but for the sake of the composition and visual interest I modified the pose so that her right arm is outstretched. While I made an informed guess with drawing the arm, in the end I made a further photo reference to get the nuances of the shadows cast by the forms.

I painted the sky to be reminiscent of the dark thunderstorms that used to consume the sky in the Summer afternoons of my childhood. The otherworldly light that these storm fronts created left a deep impression upon me. 


"Before the Rain Comes" Leo Plaw, 30 x 24cm, oil on canvas
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More of my artwork can be found on my website. LeoPlaw.com
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Great, great, great! You are so talented. I like everything on this picture. Colors, the theme, everything is beautiful. I wish you all luck and I hope you will be reward for this. :)

Thank you very much @nesni996! Let's see what happens.

really good post and good work/ i love such art) as one my friend says once ''havent nothing better that traditionally art" - history has proven it!

Thank you @paganlord!

What a lovely finished piece. I really like the effect of the sky and background. Maybe it was in the air, but I finished a painting the other day and it was much darker than I usually do. I really wanted the affect of light and you have done that so amazingly here. Bravo!

Thank you Donna! I've been studying chiaroscuro painters as I am fascinated by the drama they can create with their works. I'll drop by your blog and check out what you've been doing then. =)

Well, your study has paid off, really wonderful.

There is more to explore yet. ;-)

This is one of the best paintings I have seen from you, so if it took a little longer, its well worth it. You did well with the arm. I also like the beautiful and complex skin tones. The dark back ground makes the figure really stand out and adds a great atmosphere!

Been working every day for month, even over the holidays and slowly my motivation is getting really low.. yes, everything seems to take forever and then again, time is passing way too quickly... I'm getting old it seems 👴

Thank you Reinhard! I have my eye on the works of some master figurative artists and would like to achieve their level of mastery.

Pffft! Old! Young man, you're not done yet! =)

From what I can see, you are well on your way. With painting I mean ;-)

Thanking you most kindly good sir! =)

Wonderful, evocative piece. Quality is better than quantity; perhaps moving slow is not such a bad thing.

Thank you @twirble!
True, quality is better than quantity, but what I have also learnt with painting is not to fuss to much with it. It is better to complete the work and move onto the next. The learning cycle then quickens; this is my aim at the moment.

Such a beautiful piece!!!! I don't have words, it's simply fantastic! You're soooooo talented and I love the pose that you chose in this piece!

Thank you Silvia! =)

Think it would have looked all right with both arms pulled in too, a stretched out arm probably does add that little something though. Guessing the clouds haven't reached all the way behind her where the light is coming from yet? XD

It's a really nice piece, even if you felt a bit slow doing it. Maybe it just needed to be done slowly :)

I don't feel like it's off to a slow start as such, though I am thoroughly disorganised and can't seem to get myself together! And now I'm currently doing gruntwork again (I should probably write or find a script for what I'm doing but as I'm too scared of breaking things, I'm tediously connecting nodes, and currently I'm just hoping that this thing will look all right once all the maps are in place DX)

goatsig

Actually, as of today things just picked up pace and are moving forward. Some key things are being cross off the list, so I think 2018 has just shifted up a gear.

Well... what I always did with tech/software/programming projects, was duplicate, and then try the risky idea on a duplicate so you won't lose all of your work so far if it blows up.

Remember, always, always, always, BUBYFU! Back Up Before You F*ck Up! =D

I version save probably more than is necessary ;D

As it turned out it was a 5min process exporting to obj from 3dC and importing that into Blender. Which I didn't try the first time as historically obj has only ever brought in the model for me and much more gruntwork was required to smooth it (which I can just click a button for in Blender) and reapplying the damn maps (of which there are about a billion because I ptex textured, which was the gruntwork I was doing with a fbx import previously as it did all the nodetrees for each material but didn't actually do the image map node o_O).

So I spent much of yesterday alternately sulking and admiring my handiwork but at least I can move again ;D

You've crossed off a few key things already, that's awesome! Mybe you'll have a super productive year or maybe the major productiveness will happen early on and you can cruise for the rest of the year if that's a thing you do sometimes :)

goatsig

Blender is a piece of software that I would like to learn, but that is world in itself. Perhaps I will make time in the future, now I know who to come to for tips. ;-)

Cruise this year? No way, full steam ahead!!!

Full steem ahead? ;D I'm not surprised I feel the same :)

I'm not an expert by any stretch, but am happy to help if I can :D

goatsig

Full steam and full Steem ahead! ;-)
Don't sweat it, I won't be asking for tips any time soon. Before then, I need to lay my hands on a drawing tablet and get down and dirty with digital drawing on Krita.

BTW, are you running Linux?

I love Krita!

Yep currently running Manjaro with KDE. Does my head in sometimes.

goatsig

Wow....excellent art, amazing post, thanks for sharing

Thank you @utpolbiswas!

Wow.... All I see is genuine creativity. Beautiful art work

Thank you @deegurl!

Creative And Mind Blowing Art............I Totally Love It. Keep Up The Good Work

Thank you Desmond! I'll keep on keeping on. =)

Outstanding! Now this is art. Beautiful work.

Thank you Marc!

  ·  7 years ago Reveal Comment

Thank you @soulart!

Interesting name of the work, I played with it, from the point of view of symbolism, rain is a man, that is, it is a spirit of fertility, and the earth is a woman, frank nudity, the girl's pose and her gesture toward the earth, is a narrative if women are eager for their essence, pulling towards it, trying to personify the earth, to be a receptacle of the spirit and to grow fruits, open and sincere, then the man will certainly come ...
@leoplaw thank you for the excellent card for the Game!