Lots of Changes

I've been working on my Afghanistan series and have been adjusting the color along with a few details of some of the paintings. I thought I would update the blog with the changes that I have made in paintings I have done previously.

I've been trying to make the colors of the paintings more consistent (adding ochres and reducing some of the other colors.) On this painting I actually filled in some of the missing parts. I actually loved the unfinished painting, but for it to fit into my series, I had to add eyes and color in the guy on the left. The top picture is the new version. Below is the way it was before I worked on it today.



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I modified the three girls on the donkeys mostly by changing the color of the sand and toning down the sky. I actually was quite fond of those colors, but once again to make the image work within the series, I thought I should make everything less crisp and pure in color.



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This one (of the first aid workers) has been changed very little. I altered the face a bit and changed the color of the sand as well as removing some shadows that distracted compositionally.



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Finally I also worked on this one. I've never liked this painting and I still don't like it. I like the two figures in back, but the guy with the bike just doesn't do anything for me. I think I liked him better when he was fuzzy.



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I have also been working on another piece - a father and son. It is still not finished, but the colors are turning out very nice on this one and it works really well to bridge the different palettes of the girls on the donkeys and the toddler with the AK47. I need to fix the hands and work on some highlights (finish the sleeves too) but here is the partially finished new one.



So here are the six that seem to work for the series all together. It seems to me that the top two will have to be replaced. One doesn't work stylistically and the other doesn't work in terms of color palette. I love the orange one - but the orange jars with the ochre and purples of the other pieces.



Let me know what you think!