Beginning Sketch --> Final Painting
Ana Bagayan’s latest show: “Orphan” is set to open Saturday at the renowned Billy Shire Fine Arts. We’ve been keeping tabs on the fabulous Ana and her superfine works. Ana has been working non-stop since we last saw her at Baby Tattooville to get ready for this show and thankfully she worked in some time to do a “creative process” on her latest work “Promethius“. This gorgeous 12″ x 23” oil on wood made it’s debut at Copro Nason’s “Superschool” group show this past weekend (covered). Enjoy Ana’s entire creative process after the jump.
1. First I either draw directly or transfer the drawing onto the raw surface of the wood. Most transfer papers don’t stick to wood so I use the messy method of covering the back of the drawing with condensed charcoal and imprinting the image by redrawing it. Then I coat the panel with two to three layers of clear gesso and sand the surface until perfectly smooth.
2. The face is the most important part of my paintings and I must finish it before I can move on to the background or any other element. I can spend days painting the background first, but if the face does not come out well in the end, the whole painting looks off to me. I paint the eyes and the dark shadow shapes first, then build up the lights. I have a video of the construction of a face on my blog.
3. At this point, the face isn’t fully finished, but I can tell what it will look like and I can move on to the hair.
4. I originally wanted a red bow with a white background, but I changed my mind. My paintings never turn out how I originally imagined them. I’ve long given up on having a set color palette in mind before starting a painting. It’s more exciting to let the painting unveil itself to me as it progresses.
5. I painted in the background around the edges of the head and ribbon while the paint is still wet so the colors could be blended and softened. I have repainted the lips, almost completely, about three times. Also added a hint of a bite.
6. The background color also has gone through three layers. Once the background is dry, I go back to the face, hair, and ribbon and tighten everything and add final details.
Finally its done. Here’s an up close shot.
