World War II Portrait: Shapes, Shadows and Folds

Ahh, the challenge of fabric! Painting the shapes, shadows and folds of fabric has always fascinated me. My plan was to paint just the upper body and hands but once I started working on Pete's uniform, I could not help myself (does that sound odd?) and continued on with his pant legs. By 11:00 last night I knew that the hands would have to wait until today. I make adjustments as I go. The right arm and shoulder had to be pulled in and his forearm straightened slightly. I love details and so I'm looking forward to painting the book cover, one of my favorite parts of this painting.

World War II Portrait: Olive Green

Research for this painting has been enjoyable. After  checking out U.S. military uniforms from 1941 on Google, I decided it would be helpful  to put in a couple of movies. First, I watched segments of Tora Tora to catch glimpses of the army uniform in color. My second and even better choice was Pearl Harbor. (And then of course I had to have popcorn to go with it.) The variations of the accessories for the basic uniform were confusing at times; light ties, dark ties, light hats and then dark hats. I think the values of the hat in the reference photo were helpful in finalizing my decision to go with a deep olive green.