My Painting in Acrylics: Geraldine Faye

Geraldine Faye

I've been reading a book called Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards.  I knew how to draw, but some of the techniques in the book did help me improve.  Mainly, I found that what I truly needed was patience to pay attention to the small details.

I've also painted in acrylics before, such as the picture below.

The Way

The painting above was inspired by the song The Way by Fastball.  I had heard the song years ago, and I could envision the painting.  However, I didn't actually get around to painting it until 2015, when I started dabbling in acrylics.  I learned later that The Way song was actually inspired by an elderly couple who had disappeared after taking a road trip.  Much later, the couple was found dead, having crashed into a ravine or canyon.

Geraldine Faye marked a change.  It was the first time I painted on a canvas.  Before, I had painted on all purpose drawing paper--the sort you find in the kid's craft area at a craft store.  I had avoided canvases because they were very expensive.  I had started painting on a very small canvas, but I hadn't liked how bright the colors were.  It was pretty, but hard to get the realism I was going after.  However, I found some cheap thin canvases on Amazon and decided to try those.

To paint Geraldine Faye, I used the techniques I learned in Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.  However, I learned that acrylics had some of their own rules.  This first thing I learned was that acrylics often required using colors you wouldn't think of using to achieve the look you want.  I was getting frustrated on the skin tone.  I could not get her to look real with the flesh toned paint.  I tried dark grays and browns, but no success.  Out of desperation, I chose a bright orange, and wah-lah....suddenly she started looking more real.

I use photographs for my models.  I often have four or five photographs that get incorporated into a picture.  I was looking at photographs of eyes, and I noticed that eyes are often not one solid color.  What was even more peculiar was that eyes could be made up of several different color circles.  Some people can have yellow in their eyes.  I did this look on Geraldine Faye, and at first she looked like an alien.  Then I added a white dot to her eyes--the reflection of light--and suddenly the eyes looked authentic.

Geraldine's eyes were one of the first things to be finished in the painting, so early on she was staring out at us.  My mom commented that her eyes followed you.  I wish now I had taken a beginning picture of Geraldine, because boy did she look different! I think I shall do that from now on.

I had my own ideas about the painting.  However, much to my initial dismay, the painting started going in a different direction.  This happens frequently with my books.  I have one ending and one idea in mind, and the book decides to go in another direction.  A hero becomes a villain.  I remember reading Misery by Stephen King, and Annie Wilkes had asked the captive author Paul Sheldon to tell her the end.  I was thinking I wouldn't have been able to do that, because most of the time I don't know how my books will end.  I often feel like I'm not the creator, but merely the tool being used to produce a vision, a vision that I only see in small bits until it finally comes together.

I had planned to use a friend as the model for Geraldine, but in the end Geraldine really did not look much like  her.  My initial idea was to paint a wealthy girl all dressed up for a party.  The time period would be the 1920s.

By all appearances, the painting is of that.  However, if you look at Geraldine, you start seeing another story.  Yes, she is in a wealthy home...but I don't think she lives there.  Geraldine is wearing cheap costume jewelry, and her hands are rough looking--like she works with them for a living.  Even her hair doesn't look quite professionally cut or styled.  Geraldine seems to be a working class girl that somehow got invited to a high class party.  She spent her money, though, trying to get a fancy dress and purse that contrasts with her working class demeanor.  

Some things I was proud of.  Other things didn't come out the way I wanted them too.  I was very proud of how the dress turned out and the sequins on the purse.  I liked the reflection of the wood.  I was pretty happy with my flowers.

I was not quite as happy with how my butterfly turned out.  It is the brown thing perched on top of the flowers.  It was a last minute addition to honor a special moment that happened while I was painting this picture.  Butterflies have been a reoccurring symbol for me since turning 40.  A butterfly caterpillar had appeared on my birthday inside my house, which I have never seen one.  Then, while I was painting Geraldine, a butterfly entered the house and landed next to me.  It sat by my tube of paint, not at all bothered by my movements.  The next day, I released it back outside--fortunately without damaging its wings.

My little friend inspired me to add a butterfly to the painting.

Of course, it could be a coincidence, but I have liked the idea that the butterflies are omens that I will use the forties for enlightenment and self-growth.

The staircase room didn't come out the way I would have liked.  It was one of those things where you see it in your head, and yet you can't quite communicate it on paper.  The darkened room was a last minute addition, a rather awkward one since I had to draw over a wall I had already painted.  I was proud of the depth--I felt I had nailed that.

I made more omissions than additions.  Originally, I had planned to have a table with flowers near the staircase and a woman climbing the stairs.  I had planned to have French doors, one closed and one opened.  I wanted to show a hint of a chandelier. I had planned to show the back of a photo frame on the fireplace mantel to show that our girl Geraldine was actually looking at a mirror at her reflection.  I thought the photo frame would clue the person to this fact.

These omissions were made because I felt like the painting would get too busy--and I also was running out of room.  All in all I was pleased with it.

The canvas did warp a bit.  A friend of mine said that could be avoided by nailing wood triangles to the corners.

I'm keeping Geraldine Faye.  She is my first official painting, and the butterfly incident is something personal that I want to remember.  However, the response I received when I displayed it makes me feel I have a future in selling my paintings.

The woman who was the model for Geraldine is someone I met on an online forum.  I don't know her in real life, and I've never seen her house.  She said it was rather funny.  She has a house with French doors that open up to a room that contains a staircase.  Of course, probably many houses have this feature, but it was still one of the interesting coincidences surrounding the painting.

I think, though, that I will probably definitely be a people artist.  It is possible I might draw landscapes, but I guess humanity interests me most.