![]() I keep it very light and it just melts into the paint when I cover it over. Then I use soft chalk or charcoal to draw guidelines on the jacket. I generally have something in mind but this is a good time to "play around" with color and value.īackground is done and I'll let it dry. If I begin to use opaque colors, it will turn into mud.ick. I am only using transparent colors at this stage. With a paper towel in one hand and a brush in the other, I begin to "push" the wet paint around. As you can see it is messy and moody and neutral. It will help all the other mid-range values fall into place.Īfter I'm done with the acrylic stage (and it is completely dry), I seal the entire canvas with Winsor-Newton's Liquin. I always establish black and white immediately in an underpainting. Once the white of the canvas is covered up - it doesn't look so dark. I chose a medium value paint for all the objects and was thinking "halftone" (the space between light and shadow). This layer could be in oil but acrylics are a faster way to saturate the canvas. Posterizing is a good way to see if a composition works. Two thin layers are much better than one thick layer. It is a good way to lay down my basic composition and make a definite statement of shape. I may need to put on more than one layer of paint in order to cover the canvas and make it flat - like a poster. If my subject has light skin, I use the same paint and color for the skintones as my "white." If my subject has darker skin, I deepen the value accordingly. Nothing will be lighter in value than this. I try to stick to the dull halftone, neutral earth colors.įor the color "white" I choose a dull warmish neutral - about the value of a brown paper bag. In order to do this, I needed to use an acrylic primed linen - acrylic paint will not stick to oil primed linen and will not be archival. Oil paint will not cover graphite so if I were painting in oil, I'd need to erase my original lines and replace them with a Sharpie line. Acrylic paint will cover graphite (pencil). I use a sheet of graphite paper and a ballpoint pen to transfer the drawing to the canvas. I use a "Sharpie" Permanent Marker as it makes a clean line and doesn't smear. ![]() Believe me, it comes in handy later in the painting if my lines begin to "wander" and I need to correct. I use prepared acetate instead of tracing paper because I can see through it. ![]() This portrait of Gwyneth (20"x24", oil on linen) won the Certificate of Excellence at the Portrait Society of America's International Portrait Competition in Philadelphia this year (2008). Sometimes I even remember to take pictures of the process. I use several different methods (and sometimes combine them) depending on what I think is best at the time. There are a LOT of ways to paint a portrait.
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