June 1 2008.... i had a little problem. in my studio i use the same workstation for my acrylic paintings and my oil paintings. Oil uses oil as a medium and acrylic uses water. water and oil dont mix. and i must alway be careful to keep their brushes and paints in separate shelves so as not to mix them up. BUT i had one acrylic painting that i had not finished. being as i wanted to concentrate on the jordyn/nedda project (which is in oils), i had to finish the flowers... so here they are and now out of the way of my work station
June 2. Layer 1 for "Day of Reckoning". This is the first painting of my Pagliacci project. After thinking about the composition and drawing it on paper, this is the first step of the oil painting. It is called the underpainting. I put in more colors at this layer (stage) than many other artists because I like to feel the colors interact with each other. It is drawn in charcoal, then sprayed with a fixative. when the fixative dries a thin layer of oil paints are painted on the canvas. The colors serve as the base of the painting. The painting is based on the tragic-opera Pagliacci. The characters here are Canio, adult-Nedda, and child-Nedda. In the Seattle Opera presentation of Pagliacci my great-niece, Jordyn, played the part of young Nedda.
please click to enlarge
July 26, 2008... Layer 2. I worked on the Canio playing the clown Pagliaccio's face. I wanted to get an expression that conveyed his acceptance of his fate that he would be killing Nedda (Colombina). I also worked on the background to bring all three characters to the foreground.
September 29, 2008
"The day of reckoning". Final Layer of painting. Canio (Pagliacci) has discovered Nedda's (Columbina's) affair. She laughs at his discovery. They have a play to put on for the village. Canio playing Pagliacci and Nedda playing Columbina. in the play as in life their affair is discovered. The audience at first believes that Canio and Nedda are acting. But it is soon discovered that they are not. This is the moment before Canio stabs Nedda. He holds her neck. She does not move. She knows her fate, as does Canio. After all, they have been acting their parts in village after village for months. Now the play has become reality (this part reminds me a lot of a Shakespeare tragedy). Nedda clings on to the child she was, but that child no longer has hope. All are tied in fate, and Nedda will die.
June 4...2008.... This is the underpainting for "Child Nedda" from the opera Pagliacci. The young Nedda is in the front and the adult Nedda is walking int the back.
July 27..... I completely changed the composition. Nedda looked like she was off the ground. so i grounded her and got rid of the older Nedda. This way I could concentrate on Nedda as a young girl before Canio spotted her living on the streets.
September 29, 2008. Layer 3. Final of Young Nedda. Here Jordyn is on stage. She is playing the young Nedda from the opera Pagliacci. This is a time in Nedda's life where she lived on the street. She is young, determined, poor, and talented and she still has hope/belief in the future. It is at this time that Pagliacci sees her and takes her under his wing and brings her into his travelling group of entertainters (Pagliacci means players, or clowns). The composition remained the same, but the colors were enhanced and in some cases changed.
June 20, 2008 :: Being Driven To Opera Rehearsal. What attracted me to this photo was the sophistication in her face. She reminds me in some ways of Audrey Hepurn, when Hepurn played Holly-Go-Lightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's. This is the underpainting (the first layer) of this painting..
July 26, 2008. Layer 2. On this layer I have made the back seat more believable. I did this by changing some of the lines and by adding colors.
Sept 6, 2008 "going to rehearsal", layer 3. I worked on this painting for a couple of hours today. I adjusted the sky and hills seen from the windows, and I worked on her expression and facial features. she is finally getting some life and spirit.
September 29, 2008 Final. Layer 4. Here is Jordyn being driven in her pink limousine. She is playing young Nedda in the Seattle Opera Company production of Pagliacci.
July 1, 2008 --- underpainting (layer 1) for "I'm Flying"
October 8 2008.... Final Painting. This one went fast. Only two layers! Pretending to fly is very attractive to me, so that is probably why this painting went so fast. I added a mixture of cadium-red, permanent-green and titanium white to the background. Scaled the mixture to have more red on top and green on the bottom of the painting. Since these colors are also in the figures, the paintings colors "harmonize" with each other. I added the red to young-Neddas hair and gave her a smile. And completely re-worked both young-Nedda and Canio, painting in details, using the same colors as in the under-painting, but of higher intensity. Painting is now complete for me. And as it is the last painting in the series, the project is now complete. Thank you Jordyn for being my model, and also thank you to Jordyn's parents, Terry and Teresa. As well as to my sister Kathy, who supplied the jpegs. And thank you Leoncavallo, for composing and writing the beautiful opera Pagliacci!
All paintings are created by me, Joan Winter. Every painting is original and one-of-a-kind. As with most artists, I paint in many styles and formats. Subject matter and mood determine choice of medium(s).
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October 8 2008.... Final Painting. This one went fast. Only two layers! Pretending to fly is very attractive to me, so that is probably why this painting went so fast. 