So this piece is very special to me, because I spent a lot of time on her and really enjoyed every second I spent bringing her to life. I had the concept of a woman who represents the power of nature but is showing restraint by harnessing it in her hands. and so "Tempestad" was born.

ACRYLIC COLORS USED

1. White
2. Cadmium red
3. Cadmium orange
4. Indian Yellow
5. Dioxazine purple
6. Ultramarine blue
7. Raw umber
8. Phthalo blue
9. Sap green
10. Cadmium orange
11. Quinacridone magenta
12. rose
13. Turqoise
14. Phthalo green
15. Viridian

 As usual, I started out with an underpainting in Ultramarine blue to establish the darks and shadow areas,

Next I added the first layer of skin tone, which was made from a mix of white, Cadmium red, Indian yellow, Dioxazine purple and white.

I always mix the middle tone first and then darken and lighten as needed.

Art Tip! 

“Since acrylics dry so fast, if you don’t have time to finish a specific part of your painting and want to conserve the paint, drop a glob of retardant on the paint, and then put it in the freezer, The paint wont dry and when youre ready, you can take it out of the freezer and let it thaw and you’re good to go!”

I then start to darken the shadows by adding some more ultramarine blue to the skin mixture and some raw Umber, because I wanted to keep the shadows very cool.

Next I start to refine some of the details, like her jawline, lips, eyes, brow, etc, this is still the first stage for those parts but it helps to start bringing the piece to life and seeing where to add hints of different colors.

I add hints of yellow and rose to her skin in different areas as well as some quinacridone magenta to her cheeks to give her some blush.

I paint in her eyes and hair with a very dark blue mixture made from phthalo blue, sap green and some cadmium orange to tone it down just a touch

Fun Fact! 

Tempestad is Spanish for Tempest which means

Now its time for the background, so I lay down blue, orange and white on my palette, and start to blend them into the background using different amounts and mixtures of these 3 colors, keeping it very light

Lastly I paint in the clouds with a mixture of ultramarine blue, viridian green and cadmium orange, to get some warm and cool greys for the clouds. I take some of the water I'm using to clean this color off my brushes, and let it drip down the canvas to create the effect of rain.

I fill in the energy ribbons (I don't have a more descriptive work for them, so that's what I'm calling them) with a mix of turquoise, white and ultramarine blue and cadmium orange

I tried to make them transparent in certain parts so you could see her skin through them, and then painted some shadows under the ribbons to make them pop out more.

Finally I painted in the ball of energy in her hands which represent the force of nature tamed by the character in the painting.

And here she is all finished and on display at the Super Wonder gallery in Toronto!

I really hoped you liked the process, and if you have any questions or comments, feel free to message me and ill get back to you :)

TEMPESTAD - Acrylic on gallery wrap canvas- 24x24

To view more of my work, feel free to visit my website

www.andressilvera.com

If you are interested in the original piece, you can inquire about her availability here http://www.andressilvera.com/originals-1/tempestad