A Challenging Portrait

While in Tallinn, Estonia is May, we visited and did a walkabout the medieval old town. I did alot of people watching in the town square... so many lovely children and their young parents, out for a weekend outing where in the middle of this ancient city a childrens music festival was underway. As I sat 'watching' on the steps of city hall, a older white van pulled up to my right, several adults spilled out, opened the back and begin pulling out tables and chairs, art supplies, games and mats and within 5 minutes an arts/crafts/ game area was set up for preteens that would arrive within minutes. The leader/organizer of this group is featured here, as "The Woman From Tallinn." This colorful confident middle-aged woman engaged young parents and children alike. It was exciting to watch, and I could see her beautiful spirit... THUS.... the painting. So I began with the drawing enlarged to desired size. This drawing is heavily drawn as I plan to use a heavier fabric than normal and I need to be able to see through the fabric.

I've chosen and placed a heavier Kaufman PFD atop the drawing. I've chosen this fabric over my normal favorite because the heavier textile weave in the fabric I think might be more effective in the head and neck scarfs worn by this woman. We'll see!

I begin this late one evening so that I could apply a base skin color and allow overnight drying. Kind of scary, huh? The base color is no. 95 of Tsukineko Craft Inks ( Tuscan Beige). It's not beige at all and looks in the bottle and on fabric when wet ( as seen here) as a peach color. I warn students when they first put this down, they will consider quitting as this looks sooooo wrong. I promise it will get better when the ink dries and shadows are added.