Detail Area Sketch Preview

While waiting for my canvas to arrive, I have sketched up a drawing of Melina's section of the painting.  This will be in the bottom right hand corner of the whole picture.

For reference to my idea for the entire painting, check out my previous blog.

My next "Melina" painting

I have a few different pictures of my friend Brianna (who posed as "Melina" for my first painting).
My next idea goes as follows:
Here is the picture that inspired it:

I'm changing several things.  I'm getting rid of the telephone wires in the sky, getting rid of the train tracks that cut off the view of the mountains, and deleting the building (that the gun is resting against).  Instead, the arm whose hand is flat on the cement will be cocked at the elbow and she will be holding the gun upright (muzzle toward the sky like it is except the magazine side pointed toward the car).

Her hair will be red.  Obviously, she is going to portray Melina, not Brianna.  She will be wearing a bare-shouldered little black dress and pointy red high heels.  She will be sitting on an overturned bucket (again, the building and the cement will be gone).

Biggest things I'm changing:
It will be at the break of dawn.  The sky off to the right will be dark blue fading into black, and the sky off to the left where you can see the mountains will be orange fading to the right into blue. The horizon will be the brightest part of the sky.  Because the time of day is changing, I'm also changing the color of the car.  It will be a royal purple (my favorite color).

I'm adding a bit more sky space and a little bit more space on the left side in front of the vehicle.  Since the rising sun will be located to the left of the picture, all shadows will be dramatically flowing out behind the car and the girl toward the righthand side.

This one shall be called "A girl, a gun, and an empty gas tank."
I'm just waiting on the 18x24 canvas I ordered to arrive on my doorstep, and I shall begin :)

Slave to Reminiscence - completed

Here she is :)
11x15

P.S. I hate taking pictures of pictures 'cause the light always reflects off of the darkest areas. Grr. Gonna scan this one later and re-post it

"Slave to Reminiscence" Early Progress

This is the first time I'm posting an incomplete work.  This one is just so intricate I felt the need to share my progress so far.  Inspired by a simple picture of my friend Sarah Abraham standing in an archway (original picture posted first), I have created quite a different outcome:

Here is my take on the girl in the archway (the half-painted version of my progress so far):

Up-close detail of the subject:

This one's gonna take a while, just because it has loads of tiny details.  :)

Creation of "Melina"

"Melina" is my baby, my first "real" piece of art.  I'm still striving to create something that nearly equals up, but so far, she has been my number one favorite since I first started this painting adventure.

Background of the character Melina:
When I was a sophomore in high school I wrote an amateurish novel.  Writing this book was really just a way to make it through my geography honors class, which I hated with a passion.  Melina was a major character in the story who started out as an antagonist and later turned into the heroine of the tale.  Copies of this book, published years after it was written, are available at Amazon.com under my maiden name, Janette Benbow.  The title is "Track to Treason".

The character:
Melina is defined not just by her long red hair, which is frequently described as a waterfall of flames, but by her fiery, temperamental personality and her envy-evoking goddess-like beauty.  Her biggest downfall is her corrupt childhood past, which has created this dark, impulsive character who thrives on sex but can't find love, and her greatest strength is her sex appeal.  She is capable of luring any man into her trap.  Melina is powerful, and even though her character is hateable, many readers, including myself the author, found herself irresistible and memorable because she is human.

The model for the painting:
When I was a senior in high school, I befriended a girl on my long-distance track team named Brianna Perry.  The main thing that attracted me to Brianna was she reminded me of my fictional character Melina, only blonde.  Her mannerisms, her features, including her long flowing hair and her seductive beauty, all screamed "Melina!"  I was not alone in noticing these eerie similarities.  My best friend at the time spotted me running with Brianna and later mentioned to me that I was running with a Melina-look-alike!  Not only that, but the character Melina was a long-distance track runner in my published book!  Brianna is Melina in the flesh, only blonde.

The picture:
In 2010 I took a digital photography class at my local college.  The first assignment was an open shoot, to go take a series of pictures which we would later be showing the class.  I procrastinated on the assignment, as I was taking full-time classes and working as well.  One day I was hanging out with Brianna (the day before the pictures were due).  It was already nighttime, and I knew I had to get the pictures taken somehow.  I asked her to be my model, and we went to the old-town area of Yuma, near where my dad's tax business is.  Of five pictures we took, this one was my favorite.

Funny thing is, it was the class's favorite too.  Of all the pictures I took, the teacher decided to linger on this one, to discuss the linear aspects (how the rips on her jeans seem to run parallel with the lines of the sidewalk and the wall), and to marvel at the inexplicable look on Brianna's face.  What is she thinking about?  What is she looking at?  Why is she sitting in such a strange place at night?  All of these thought-evoking characteristics are things that, only a few months later, urged me to paint her.

Painting "Melina":
When sketching the picture, I first changed the background.  The mailbox had to go.  Second, I wanted weeds and plants growing up between the cracks on the sidewalk.

When painting it, I changed the color of her hair.  I wanted the picture in black and white, like it was originally taken.  But I needed her hair to be red.  She was no longer Brianna.  She was Melina.  I also made her legs a little leaner.  Brianna my senior year of high school had looked just like Melina, skinny and lanky.  When this picture was taken, she had filled out into a more womanly figure.  However, this painting wasn't about the current Brianna.  It was about Melina.

She took me about five days to paint, on an 8x10, my first baby

Here she is:

I don't know if I will ever be able to part with the original.  I have it matted and framed in my house.  Although it's only an 8x10, I will probably take no less than $1000 for her.  Anything less wouldn't feel worth it.  Melina has history.  She's mine.