Alla Prima Portrait: Allegra (Oil, 20 x 16)

I was invited by a group of Fort Myers Beach artists to do a demo of portrait painting at Orange Harbor Park this afternoon. The model was a pretty blonde named Allegra. Somehow, I always thought of the musical term Allegretto. She was a very good model and posed well. I believe I got her likeness as well as her temperament.

I had an interesting experience when I got home. After I added my finish touch in my embellishment, I took the painting to my backyard for photo shooting. As I was pressing the shutter, the setting sun suddenly came from behind the cloud and shone on the painting. When I looked at the result in the camera, I was surprised to see the painting became totally in an orange color scheme. it was a good lesson about lighting. When we are in an orange lighting environment, I really have to be consciously aware of its existence in order to express the accurate atmosphere.