Here’s a happy little painting based on a photo I took of my granddaughter Kiera on the tire swing in Bowness Park last year. I chose to do this on a baltic birch panel. This is the first painting I’ve done on wood. This panel had been primed with GAC100 & Golden Transparent Red Iron Oxide both to seal and to tone the wood. I hoped the toned background would provide the warmth I wanted to convey, particularly in the skin tones.
It’s been a long time since I used a photo as closely as I did on this painting. I wanted to work on the paint application and color selection rather than drawing skills. After I selected the right spot for the focal point [her face], I traced the tire and figure onto the birch panel. The only changes I made were cropping and adding a few inches on to her swinging dress to emphasize the movement.
Next, I blocked in the main shapes paying particular attention to the highlights. You can see the warm color of the panel on this first photo… the orange/red.
I continued to develop the painting going back and forth between highlights and dark areas several times. I used my fan brush for the first time in ages… worked great for the grass. Her hair was a challenge. It’s almost white in the summer and with the sun shining on it in this setting, the top of her head was a halo of 
warm white. I added the foreground grasses at the end. I’m starting to get the hang of this new [to me] technique with heavy body acrylics. Lots of fun… Enjoy!
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