Jesse in Yellow & Grey

Jesse in Yellow and Grey was done at the Palette and Chisel on a Saturday morning during one of their long pose sessions. That morning she was posing clothed, wearing a grey long sleeved shirt.

She was reclined amongst several cushions draped with sheets, and the overall look was rather drab and foreboding. I decided it need to be livened up a little so I contrasted the dull grey environment and clothing with a piece of yellow ochre pastel, some light green, and a splash of blue here and there. The shadows were rendered using a large muted violet piece of pastel and a dark grey.

In the portrait, Jesse is looking in the viewers general direction. She is reclined deeply in what appears to be a large chair or couch, but is actually a bunch of cushions with one of them situated like the arm of a chair. Overall, I like the look of this piece, I am just slightly bothered by her forearm where the sleeve is rolled up. I feel like that edge is either too hard, or the general area is too bright. It probably was that bright, but it brings the viewer’s eye towards the bottom of the composition. It probably just needs to be blurred and the surrounding area needs to be lighted and less contrasty. Maybe I’ll revisit it at some point in the future. The thing that this has going for it are the mix of contour lines in various colors mixed with the modeling of light and shadow in the same hues.