These images are based upon an actual painting by me. It is a figure study, based upon an image in a magazine. The actual painting is composed of transparent oils, layered in a fashion similar to that in Photoshop, with increasing opacity, beginning with a black and white tonal pencil sketch on the canvass. Because the paints are not opaque, but thinned, the technique is similar to watercolors, and reveals variations in the layers below. As I was doing the original painting, I thought it would be a worthwhile idea to record some of the progress in photos, so that I could repeat the steps if I did a series on the same subject.

It took several weeks to do this one painting, actually waiting for the layers to dry! And I later grew less enthusiastic about continuing the series because I wasn't happy with the result you see here. But Photoshop is a great way to experiment with a painting's structure, without all the mess. The images here continue my original concept. They'd be fun to reproduce in oil or pastels when I find the time. :-)

The thumbnails aren't very representative of the fullsize version. If you look closely, there are variations. These incorporate several different layers attempting to duplicate actual pastels, including smudges and graininess. I'm using Photoshop 4 which has more basic algorithms and my skills are hopefully improving. These pictures are art studies for me but do contain partial nudity, as most figure studies do.