Christmas Cheer

Christmas Cheer 2024

Mom and her daughter enjoying the trail on Christmas Eve. The joyful moments captured on video of my granddaughter and her mom on the Bragg Creek trail in Calgary inspired this painting.

Colours:

Mom’s coat: Dioxazine purple + Quinacridone red + Titanium White; Light tone followed by deeper purple
Daughter’s coat: D. purple + T. White, Teal mitt
Sky: Cerulean and Ultramarine Blue + T. White GlazeR
Skin tones: Raw & Burnt Sienna, Aliaarin Crimson Hue, Qunacridone Nickel Azo Gold (QNAG)
Hair: Yellow Ochre, Raw Umber, QNAG, Cadmium Yellow M., T. White

Sketch:

Notes:

Purchased Da Vinci Eye app midway through this project. Found it useful as an aid for developing perspective and value breakdown. It is a modern AR Camera Lucida. The subject picture is superimposed with the camera focused on the canvas. In theory, the image can be copied by tracing the image viewed on the cellphone screen. An opacity control and strobe provide for different ways of visualizing and comparing progress. Very useful was the ability to expand the image which also zooms into the canvas, thus allowing fine detail work without the need of a magnifying glass.

Setup was finicky and I found it difficult to realign. For $30 it’s a great tool for getting the general perspective down on canvas and understanding value assignment.