Life is a Cabaret

 

"Life is a Cabaret"

13" x 18" Watercolor

 

After my David Lobenberg workshop, I was fired up on portraits and had a fun picture of my granddaughter on her prom night. The theme was a gambling casino, but all I could think of was Liza Minelli in Cabaret. I dutifully did my small study in Payne's Grey. It was even less a good likeness than my final product, but it gave me a feel for values, the whole point of the study.



 

My black and white study

 

Here you can see  that Kelly is much more beautiful and wholesomely youthful than I painted her. However, I take comfort in David's comment that he doesn't worry about an exact likeness; he is going for a good painting. I will, no doubt, make a few more adjustments.

 

The model

 

I did the background last and I puzzled over it for quite some time. Suddenly, this one popped into my head as representational of cabaret and celebrations, and I like it. I used tape to mask off places where I would paint in the confetti. Once I had the dark values in the background, I had to rework the shadows and the hat to get appropriate values.

 

I've been wanting to paint a piece for our annual show coming right up. I am off soon on a major trip, so had little time. I have decided to enter this piece.