DAY FIVE
I've decided that the background will be a hilly northern Italian landscape with a small village nestled over her right shoulder. Very Madonna. Very Raphael (in theme, not quality).
I'm actually having a lot of fun as I start to figure out finally how greens work. I never would have imagined that one of the tricks is to add red to it. I also finally worked out how to get a better approximation of the colours with my wee camera. Still, they are a bit washed out.
The greening out of the background will oblige me to rethink the colours of her undergarment. It will, at least, need to be a different green in any case as it did not match the green in her lower body.
When the landscape has dried I'll put in the village as I'll want clean lines. Also now I'm thinking a few tiny wildflowers in that meadow. Happy flowers.
Following that I'll be finally forced to come to terms with that flowered bush beside her. No longer will it be allowed to remain a blob.
I am surprisingly undaunted. I am looking forward to putting the necessary work into learning how to paint that I might finish this particular painting.
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Having decided that the plants will be Ivy with three pale daffodils, I set to work trying to get the Ivy bush...
...and failed. It is too cool and too bright. The light in the photo doesn't capture it correctly. It has high chroma and so, I will let it sit for a few hours then likely wipe the whole thing away with a pallet knife.
Somehow I need to give the Ivy a sense of weightlessness. That suggests starting with a medium wash and just putting faint, floating highlights in it.
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I wiped it and I walked in the gardens looking at various plants. I must remember that plants do not shade in darkness but rather with translucent lights.