Here is the finished painting.

“Flowergirls Dress Shopping”

11x14” oil pastel on paper.

When I went shopping with my 2 little nieces for Flowergirl dresses for my wedding, I took a photo of them admiring themselves in a 3-way mirror.

A few days before the shopping trip, I had been looking through the June/July issue of International Artist Magazine and saw a painter’s work that I liked.

Susanne Forestieri’s style intrigued me. Here are some paintings of hers:
http://www.susanneforestieri.com/nea.html

I had wanted to attempt her style of painting. And the image from the shopping trip had stuck in my mind. So much so that when I got home I immediately started working on a painting.  However, the painting you see above didn’t happen right away.

I was so anxious to start painting that I just did a quick pencil sketch. Then did my underpainting

I was not happy with the figure proportions on the above painting.

 
I tried working it but the underlying drawing was done too quickly and was out of proportion too much.

I started over, spending more time to get the drawing better.
Here is my new underpainting. I decided not to underpaint the figures.
I also used blue on the carpet to try cooling the final red.

And from that new (better) drawing and underpainting, I got the painting you see below (same as at the top of this post.)

I am much happier with this result. Part of what I like about this image is the sense that I am being let in on a secret.

Although I didn’t duplicate the style that Susanne Forestieri uses. I was able to pull some of that style into this painting. And I like the result. I’m looking forward to doing more paintings like this.