Femme de feu VII - step II... Carving out the female form!

A second layer this morning brought about some more refinements as I'm still searching for better lines...

I applied a slightly thicker layer of paint this afternoon ...

... before proceeding with more drastic measures such as putting this female fighter in a cage!

Femme de feu VII - step I... Introducing a new variation within the theme!

Female fighters have become an interest for me... a direct side-effect from my working on the ultimate fighters' series last year. I started this one with a specific "deconstruction" idea in mind...

It will be interesting to see if I can make it work!

Femme de feu VI final... An acquired taste!

A few more passes and I managed to pull this one off... sort of...

At the initial stage, I realized that smaller eyes led to an older woman by at least 10 years. I decided to roll with the punch and pursue in that vein. The feline look leads me to entitle this one "Jaguar"... in praise of  older "predator" women preying on younger men! I don't mind having a few paintings in this series that provoke some uneasiness on the part of the observer. This one is a 30 X 30 canvas... and, at that size, she can eat you alive! ;-)

Update: I decided to crop this painting to emphasize the eyes and facial features...

Femme de feu VI - step IV... Slowly finding the balance between spooky and glamorous!

This is another one that warrants a multi-layered approach, so I'm still working fairly transparently at this stage...

Part of the reason is that I didn't know right off the bat which approach I would take... so better be safe than sorry!

Note: I was attracted by extreme lighting effects and movement while photographing my model for this series, and now, I'm confronted with a dire need to "fill the blanks" at the painting stage to get the impact that I want from each work...

Femme de feu VI - step III... Trying to carve out the glamorus!

I only had 30 minutes today for the third layer...

This was enough to refine facial features a little and to get closer to the image that I have in mind. I would like to introduce some calligraphic marks and drips to part from pure realism, and before applying final color layers.

Note: I went to the cinema today to see "Haywire" featuring former mixed martial arts champion Gina Carano. Needless to say... sooner or later I'll be painting female fighters!

Femme de feu VI - step II... Some more finetuning!

Before doing anything drastic, I pushed it a little further to obtain more drama...

More pulpous lips and thicker eye lashes (and a nose job!) should ultimately give me what I want.

Before going too far with thicker paint, I went ahead and followed my plan to incorporate some design elements in the form of a primitive tattoo...

 Hoping to create a tension between the glamorous and the primitive! This is something I want to exploit in the future...

Note: The spooky look is unanticipated... something I have to leverage!

Femme de feu VI - step I... Setting the stage with an idea in mind!

I roughly approximated facial features for this one, leaving some room for some finetuning later on...

I have some ideas in mind to make this one different from the lot... but as usual, the end image will probably part from my initial vision...