Claudia
This is another painting that took three goes to get right.
Art is challenging. It's just like any other job. You have good days and bad days.
While Claudia started out well, her eyes were too big, her lips were too small, and her chin line was on the wrong angle. And her nose, well, don't get me started on her nose; I really couldn't get that right.
I have been painting for decades, and I can only see my mistakes if I have a break.
I knew something was off; even my son knew it wasn't right.
Now she's perfect and has the balance between unworked and overworked. Some of the details are raw, drawing your eye to her eyes and face. If the hair was more detailed and darker, the viewer would no longer be drawn into looking at her eyes, and there would be no focal point.
She is a fun little work, 20 cm wide by 25 cm in height by 1 cm deep. She will have a gold leaf edge and will be varnished.
She is painted on stretched canvas on a pine wood frame ready to hang.
I love the varnishing element of the painting. This is the final step to completing a work; any artist can tell you that a good quality top coat makes the painting glow. The blacks become blacker, and the whites glow instead of looking like chalk.
Loving the moody eye contact, and the clothes are non-dis-script, making the painting ageless so she won't date.
There is only one Claudia. Once she has gone, she is gone. She is an original, and there won't be any prints made. She is a collector's piece.