The Spanish Dancer Painting

Hello all,

I have been commissioned by Bea and Jeff Barnett of Murrieta, CA to paint a beautiful Spanish Flamenco Dancer for their front room. Their home is painted with warm colors in a hacienda style decor. Bea collects Spanish Dancers in one form or another.

I will be painting on a 4 x 5' gallery wrapped canvas that will hang in their front room. It will be the first thing their visitors and guests see when they walk in the front door of the Barnett home.



The process has several steps.

1. Visiting the client and discussing the commission.

2. Taking measurements of the wall area and deciding on a canvas size.

3. Taking wall color samples so the painting will match the current decor.

4. Purchasing the canvas (after inspection of the surface and all edges to be sure it's the on I want), paints and any add'l supplies I will need. I purchased a new larger palette knife to help build the texture for the background.

5. The clients liked a particular anatomical shape and pose from once dancer, but th colors from a different. We liked the head, neck, hair and adornments from yet another.... I took all these components, scanned them into Photoshop and began piecing a new anatomy together. Replacing one arm for another, one hand for another, one head for another, etc.

6. Once I was happy with the anatomical structure I then traced the outline of the body I built and used a projector to place the drawig up on the canvas.

7. I traced the basic outline of the body onto the canvas and am now ready to paint.

8. I already had painted in the first couple layers of the background.


This is a very challenging and exciting project.


Jill