This piece has been something I’ve been working to rework for a while now. The photo on the left is the original and on the one on the right is the final. The problem with the first pieces was that the background didn’t fit the aesthetic of the hands. So in return, I decided that I wanted to redo the backgrounds and redo the clouds (which I didn’t end up doing but we will talk about that).

As I begun painting the new background, I decided that I wanted the piece to have a “halo” effect to further emphasize where the hands meet. I went with a blue background because I felt like it matched the hands the most since I used blue shadows on the skin. Throughout the process of the background, I adopted a “blotting”/stippling technique as it fit most with the hands, and also just worked better to blend for me personally. After finishing the sky I decided that painting clouds, like I had originally intended to would be too much with the “halo” effect.

In the end, I am really happy with how the final piece turned out. I feel like the blue really gave the effect I was going for even with the lack of clouds.