Baluchi Basket Weaver

I consider this painting a success not because I am satisfied with how it eventually turned out, but because of all the things I learned in the process. For one thing I now know that painting white material is trickier than it looks, especially the parts in shadow: I used too many cool colors for the shadows of the garment, making it look like there is ice underneath, not human flesh. In my next painting (will be posted soon)I went a little warmer in the shadows: Instead of ivory black I mixed raw umber with titanium white with a touch of yellow ochre, and used it for the shadow parts of the folds and creases in the white shirt.

 William Whitaker is a master of painting figures in white robes with sharp contrasts of white and grey. His compositions are simple both in color and form which induce a sense of serenity and solitude.

Another thing I learned is that there is a meaningful harmony between a cool green and a warm brown. For the greens in the keffiyeh I used viridian and ultramarine with copious amounts of titanium, and for the background I mixed burnt sienna, alizarin and ultramarine plus some mixture leftover just to kill it off a little.