pointillist painting debriefing

close up of finished crabs with horse hooves showing on the top left that are still in the underpainting stage

I took this photo in my dining room light so the colors are a little too warm. I’m excited because one more difficult step is done and I’m almost finished with the painting. The crabs, they kind of sparkle or shimmer to my naked eye. I’m not sure the effect is working on the computer screen.

This project has taken me months with all the sketches I did and all the planning. A few hours at a time and not every day is how I’m getting it done. The flowers and horse are still in the underpainting stage and will need two coats of dots because the background plant and the crabs needed two coats, The horse looks like the most difficult part and I’ll probably do it last.

The reason the crabs are shimmering is because tiny dots of the underpainting are showing through. The underpainting for the crabs was in cool grays and the dots on the crabs are warm orange and red, so the complimentary tints are close to the same value but opposite causing the shimmery look.

The shimmer is a thing I like about pointillism so I’m excited because I think all the hard work I put into it is going to pay off.

Some unplanned things happened with this. I’ll show more close ups with some weird happenings when it’s all done.

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