Portrait painting in oil: A quick approach in colour from a live model.
First session. (Three stints of 25 minutes each.)
The underpainting is in Raw Umber. Just before beginning I give the canvas a thin layer of diluted paint (painting medium) and like this I can wipe off the light areas of the face. In the first draft you see that the face was a little too high. I corrected that.
This way of working is just a matter of adding and removing paint. Now the canvas can dry until I move on after a week.
Second session. (Also three times 25 minutes.)
I prepared my palette with 10 basic colours and some mixtures, see below. I also made a mix of 50% painting medium and 50% of stand oil. Since the underpainting has already the right tonal value I only need to cover the shadows with a thin wash. The light areas I paint with more paint. I don´t need to pay attention to the likeness anymore so this approach makes it possible to concentrate only on the colours. In the shadow are Burnt Sienna and Viridian Green. In the halftones on the cheeks and temples I added a touch of green in the premixed flesh tone. In the bright parts are White, English Red and Ochre. In the light areas of the nose I used Naples yellow instead of Yellow Ochre which gives a cooler skin tone. The eyes are almost pure Raw Umber. The model´s vest is actually neutral gray. I made it a greenish hue to match the contrast of the red undershirt. The darkest touches in the vest are a combination of ultramarine blue and burnt sienna. So no black! For the bright red accent beneath the bridge of the glasses I used Cadmium Red Deep.
A peek in my kitchen
White numbers:
- 1 palette knife
- 2 tin can with painting medium (right from the bottle)
- 3 brushes
- 4 tin can medium mixture (50% painting medium and 50% of stand oil)
- 5 stand oil
- 6 painting medium
- 7 colour checker
- 8 tin with turps for cleaning my brushes.
Red numbers:
- 1 Ultramarine blue
- 2 Viridian green
- 3 Raw Umber
- 4 Burnt Sienna
- 5 Crimson
- 6 English Red
- 7 Cadmium Red Deep
- 8 Yellow Ocher
- 9 Napels Yellow
- 10 Titanium White.
Blue numbers
Pre mixed colours
- 1 Neutral gray: Burnt Sienna + Ultramarine Blue + Yellow Ocher+ Titanium White
- 2 Mauve: Ultramarine Blue + Crimson + Titanium White.
- a Viridian Green + Yellow ocher
- b Viridian Green + Napels Yellow
- c Burnt Sienna + mixture a
- d Viridian Green + Burnt Sienna
- e English Red + Yellow ocher + Mixture a
- f Titanium White + Yellow Ocher + English Red + Mauve
- g Titanium White + Yellow Ocher + English Red
- h Titanium White + Yellow Ocher + English Red