Representational
I keep thinking I should do something with this. If a pillow could represent exhaustion, this is it.
The Three Glazes for Skin
Skin involves three sittings seen in the three photos: the first is burnt umber, the second is grisaille, and the third is a velatura, that is, a thin layer of skin colour comprised of yellow ochre, vermillion, and titanium white with a medium heavy on oil (60% linseed/40% mineral spirits). Then I put extra vermillion into the redder parts of the face, such as the nose, eyelids, lips, etc, and pure white for highlights.
Glazing Shadows
Today I painted the grisaille, or grey scale, on top of my burnt umber underpainting. I simply use ivory black, titanium white, and my own medium comprised of 40% linseed oil/60% mineral spirits in varying amounts, depending on how dark or light I want each area to be. Basically it’s a glaze, as the amount of paint in the medium is very little, but it really adds shadow and volume to the forms.
Back in the Studio
With so many snow days, part-time Christmas work, vacation days, and time spent applying to jobs and calls for artists, I have had little time to actually paint, so I’m happy to be back at it today. I have done my detailed underpainting in burnt umber and my 40% linseed oil/60% mineral spirits mix. I’ll do the grey scale tomorrow, once this is dry.
Grisaille
I’ve put on a grisaille (greys and medium) layer today on top of my underpainting, but just in the darker shadow areas and in others I leave the burnt umber. It’s remarkable how much it pops out at this point; I still have another skin layer to go on, but the face looks nearly complete already.
Underpainting and Medium
I’m still plugging along with The Thinkers series and today I’ve got the underpainting of Paola complete. I’ve simply used burnt umber watered down with my 40% linseed oil/60% mineral spirits mix. I make this mix myself instead of paying for a more expensive medium at the art supply store.
Doubting Myself
I’m about to tackle the hair on this little beauty to complete the painting, but I have to admit that I’m doubting myself lately. I received a bit of criticism for my last painting making the sitter look too old, so I’m having one of those days where I’m wondering what am I doing painting portraits, which are incredibly difficult, easily criticized, and not even lucrative. *sigh*
Adding More Medium
An artist friend said to me lately that although the skin on my sitters has an inner glow, the rest often appears a bit flat, and I believe it’s because I don’t add much medium in the background. For this commission, I’m adding more medium and thinning out the paint in the wood, fabrics, etc. I’m also painting it in a looser style, although the face is still very tight, so I hope that they don’t seem contradictory in the end.
The Eyeball Fridge
I glued a magnet on the back and stuck Leonard Cohen’s eye to the fridge. Makes me think the fridge door needs to be filled with one hundred of these.
Hair(re)do
Last night I looked at this painting and decided that I didn’t like the impasto hair (first photo), so I scraped it off with a palette knife (second photo). It gave it a much softer effect, but I think I’m going to run some thin streaks through it now to give it more definition.
