She’s a lovely ballerina – and I’m sure this painting will be appreciated. There were, however, many challenges in creating this painting. The reference image was photographed using a wide angle setting with a phone camera. That introduced substantial distortion and error in perspective. It was difficult to use as a painting reference. It’s pretty easy to correct perspective distortion in buildings but not so much in a posed ballerina with curves. I know because I tried.
In the reference photo, the ballerina wore black posed in front of very colorful and boldly graphic wall. It looked like a fun “Senior Photo”. The lighting was flat. I wanted something softer and wanted to introduce energy and movement. As always, as soon as I get a little distance from the painting, a few more changes will likely be made. This is my first attempt to paint a ballerina – I’m sure not the last. Have a wonderful weekend. Winifred