Portrait Demo

Here is one example of how I am developing my portrait paintings. My friend Dona sat for me this morning and here are a few photos of the process from today's work.


I start off with this rather bizzaar sketch. I'm not trying to draw a portrait, just establishing a few value areas and getting some dimensions established. I don't worry about accuracy yet. If my drawing is developed too far I'll be tempted to paint between the lines and that isn't my aim. Next I'll start to block in some basic areas of different value. ("value" is the relative darkness or lightness of an area.)


Okay, let the madness begin. The lit areas of the face are transparent red earth and white, the shaded areas have some ultramarine blue to cool and darken them. I am intentionally limiting my palette to two colours and white while I work out my design.


Now I am starting to work the values back and forth building shapes that are starting to resemble my subject. I am still using a large brush in an attempt to establish an exciting, bold foundation. Some of these wide brushstokes will survive right through to the completion of the painting.


I'm starting to get comfortable with the rough design of the picture and now need to carefully consider each successive brush or knife stroke before I lay it in. I will be moving to smaller brushes and some colour variety now. I scrub some green into the background mainly because I'm sick of looking at the stark white.




This is how "Dona" turned out. I didn't have to bring in too many new colours to achieve my goal. The bright blue sweater reflects nicely up into the shaded skin areas and the pinks and greens play off each other for some visual appeal. Altogether a satisfying day.