"Black Leather Shoes"

9 X 12 Oil on Streched Canvas

Being that this is my first post, I thought it fitting that I show a picture that is not yet finished.  These are a pair of my wife's high heeled shoes.  My daughters have been stomping around the house in them all weekend playing dress-up.  As cute as that was, the click-clack of the shoes on the ceramic tile was driving me crazy.  To ensure my continued sanity, I commandeared them for a painting. 

Using the techinque I learned from Jonathan Aller (anyone interested in learning alla prima painting should take his online course, which is amazing. Here is a link: http://www.jonaller.blogspot.com/.  Although, I never manange to finish a painting in one day so alla prima does not necessarily apply to me), I began by drawing the shoes with raw umber. Then I applied the darkest values of the shoes and moved toward my middle and lighter values by adding titanium white and a touch of French ultramarine blue.   From here,  I will paint the insides of the shoes and then move to the background, which is a white sheet.  I imagine it will take me two more sittings to finish (I still paint slowly, I can't help it).  Hope you enjoy.