Saturday, December 27, 2008

Pow-Wow Brave WIP 1

This is the underpainting for my newest project, an Indian man from a pow-wow in Banderra, TX. The reference photo was taken by a new online friend, Diana Webb. She graciously gave me permission to paint from her photo. I was taken by this photo and wanted to paint it immediately upon seeing it. It is hard to see in these early stages, but his gaze is intense, yet pensive and calm. Plus, I love his hat! Pardon the buckling of the paper in the face as I got in a big hurry to take the photo before the paper had dried after the wet-into-wet application of the underpainting. This will be my first attempt at these magnificent feathers that were part of his attire. I'll keep working and posting WIPs as I move along, although it will no doubt be fairly slow for awhile.

The image size of this painting is 24 x 16, watercolor on Arches 140-lb paper.

3 comments:

RH Carpenter said...

Looking forward to this one, Susan. I have artwork from Jim Yellowhawk, a man I met at a PowWow in Ohio several years ago. I love the regalia some of the dancers wear.

Vicki Greene said...

I have a front row seat and am looking forward to watching this one progress.

Watercolors by Susan Roper said...

Thanks Ladies....I am looking forward to doing this one a lot. I may have more time tomorrow and will post the next WIP as soon as I see how much I get done. Right now in this photo with that blank, rippling face he looks a bit like the "Invisible Man! I've already started underpainting the facial shadows, though, so that will soon start to take shape.