An ear depth experience
Drawing and painting the ear was more interesting - and challenging - than I thought it would be. I was prepared to get lost in the convolutions and curves, but what I wasn’t expecting was how sculptural it is. Every part of the form curves toward and away from the light, revealing a labyrinth of folded shapes and different colors - reds, oranges, purples and blues. As I was painting it I thought - an ear is like a flower with petals that come forward and turn and reveal translucence. And it’s like fabric with folds and wrinkles and a multitude of planes. I’m thinking that I’ll probably paint a few more from different lighting conditions, and different shapes and ethnicities, just to explore the variety.
About 5 x 8, on 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico paper.
My gosh, I love your use of color — such contrasting cool and warm tones — such rich shadows!
Linda, thanks, this is something I’ve earmarked as a “need to improve” area these past few months. I have a tendency to want to generalize and see flat areas of color, which I know is the result of impatient looking and impatient color mixing. There are 2 to 3 layers of glazing on this. I am using carmine, new gamboge, ultramarine blue and some random purple.
I say ear ear to Linda’s comment! Beautiful use of colour - I’m sure I’d never see that range. I love to see purple in skin colours (in paintings). I want to say thank you too for that wonderful e-mail to EDM. It needs be be learned word for word and reapeated often. I needed to hear that!
Looks pretty good to me, Karen. You have a great eye for the play of light on objects, even tricky shapes like ears.
STUNNING!!!! AND WHAT A RICH STUDY, Karen!!!!! I will learn a lot by studying this!!! WOW!
I really like this Karen - great colours. Obviously the colour mixing study is paying off………
Karen,
I was also hoping to try an ear in watercolor, but I haven’t even begun to figure out skin colors. Your work is amzaing - the contrasts are perfect!
Any advice for watercolors mixed to achieve the basic skin tone?
Oh Karen, how wonderful a teacher you are to make us really look at an ear and discover all those wonderful differences of color. It is a lovely lieele painting and I will learn to look past just light, middle and dark values AND color. Thanks.
A very nice ear it is. You have done a great job defining those folds.
Karen- Your ear painting is breathtaking. Love the layers of color.
Thank you everyone, Shirley to answer your question, in this case I used carmine with a touch of new gamboge for the basic skin color in light - like on the top of the ear and the protruding lobe and other warm places. I used carmine and a little blue for the tuming away parts, but very dilute because I didn’t want a big purple stripe. And I worked with two brushes - one with the pigment, one with clear water to quickly soften the edge (where I wanted it softened.) There are a lot of different things going on here. Some of it was painted wet in wet, there are edges that are hard on one side, soft on the other, and there are parts like the crease in the earlobe that were painted completely wet on dry with hard edges. But I spent more time looking at the ear and analyzing it and thinking about how to make the paint do what I saw than anything else. Eventually (I hope) it will come second nature to me! I tried to think of this as a color exercise that just happened to be an ear. It could just as well have been a flower or folded cloth.
Kay, Lin, etc. I’m glad you’ve found it instructive. I like to share what I’m learning with my friends …
This is wonderful. Great colors.
I enjoyed reading your description of how it was done in the comments section as well as the regular post. What a beautiful universe this ear is. I’ve been wanting to do mine but haven’t found anyone to pose for me. Maybe tonight when we’re watching a video I’ll draw my companion’s big ears while he watches the movie.
Your artistic leadership is so appreciated. A student in my class today asked about how to make landscapes not boring and I told her about how you put the little person and tiny white building into the picture so it was something more than trees and fields and how you said to put your finger over it and see how without it it’s not as interesting. Then they all laughed because I’m always doing that–looking at their work and holding up my thumb or hand to see what’s working/not working/needed, etc.
Jana, thank you - yes I learned that “cover it up” practice from a demonstration I went to once and I was amazed. It really brought home the idea of composition and its importance. I am just getting comfortable with the idea of inventing for the sake of composition, and I am reluctant to do it on the fly when painting plein air. So I’ll share a true confession here. I scanned the painting when I got it home (white space and all) and tried out my design concept in Photoshop before comittting it to paint on paper. As it turned out, I think my instinct for what to paint and where to put it was right, and I painted exactly what I simulated ahead of time. It took away the fear of messing up the whole painting. Eventually, I hope, I’ll have enough experience that I can trust my initial impulse to be a good solution.
a wonderful study! I am amazed at what colors you saw, your looking closer will remind me to try annd see beyond the flat, one, I usually see
Karen, this is the kind of painting that i would never be tired of staring at. I would love to have it on my wall, in huge dimensions. Your colors are so impressive.
looks fantastic. i have had some trouble colouring ears . So know when i see this that its very gud….. so well done.
check out my version of an ear under stills
http://www.thehairyimaje.co.uk
Fabulous ear Karen!
) Really beautifully done.
Nice one, Karen. This ear challenge has got me thinking along very bizarre lines……I feel an idea brewing.
Very nice.
Your ear is amazing. Like everyone else who has posted a comment, I love it. I agree that this painting can stand alone - it has so much power and rich color.
You have created new appreciation in me for ears, my own included. They are works of art, aren’t they?
And what a gift you are, to paint and post this wonderful piece!
Thank you.