Anna

by Alan Berkman
(Belgium)

Anna is my oldest daughter.

Her younger sister took a photo of her and as soon as I saw it, I knew I'd have to paint it.

I gave it to her as a birthday surprise.

Its done in oil on 50cm x 40cm masonite board, using pigments made of various colored clays found in Italy...forgot the brand name.

Editors Note:
Alan! Thanks so much for contributing!

This is an awesome painting. I'm really happy you've included the preliminary layers so folks see that I'm not the only person that goes to so much trouble to paint a painting!

The results are stunning!

By including the reference and the grid folks will also be able to see the accuracy of the likeness and the fact you can accomplish this with a grid drawing!

Using the grid has been something artists have been utilizing for a very long time. On really large works, projectors tend to distort the image, and the grid is the only viable way to accurately transfer a drawing.

Most muralists use it today.

A recent addition in our town where the entire side of a restored historic building was painted started with the grid! It helped all those volunteers that were slapping paint on that old building get the job done.

I have also noticed some of the minor changes that have occurred between the brown underpainting, the gray layer, and the final color layer. Most notably the folds within the blouse, the lay of her hair around the neck line (this was nice touch added) and the seemingly light blue halo.

Again, thanks for contributing. It's good to hear from you too by the way!

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