Work In Progress - Naiad, (Minitutorial part 2, WiP 4 and 5)

Have kept working on my Naiad and will continue the little tutorial I published along with WiP 1 to 3 in a recent post. First I tried to apply roughly the general shape and feel of water, that I would later spread out using the palette knife. This led to a chaotic stage of the process:

Then I changed my mind and decided that the water would follow the oval shapes of the underlying structure. This meant that it would be painted more like ripples. Here is the latest version:

 

Since this I've been thinking whether I should change the direction of the water. Since the nymph is supposed to be a part of the element, maybe it would be better to have the water flowing in the direction of the flow and planes of the figure? It probably would.

To paint an image like this is a process taking part subconsciously and in the mind as well as on the canvas. It's a process of solving one visual problem after another, an internal journey and exploration of ideas, concepts and designs. This is what makes it so endlessly fascinating and inspiring.