I can't believe it is Day 6 already of my Portrait Challenge to myself!! The times just flies...I will need to step it up if I'm to complete 350 portraits in a year!!!
Today, however, I have posted a new painting I started yesterday of my friend Mary #5. Again, I am working from a photo I took in my studio using my light stand with a 2000K natural light bulb. It's pretty bright, so I had the reflector raised as far as it would go. I also neglected to put up a fabric background...so I decided to add some color to the painting in the background. I've been told you should not do this, but since I am doing a glazing technique to a grisaille and not trying to match colors exactly...I suppose this will be ok. We shall see. Anyway, I thought I would discuss a little about what exactly it is I am doing. I work with "water-soluble" oils. I started using them about 7 years ago because the fumes from the solvents and mediums bothered me too much and my studio is in my home. Recently, though, I've discovered there are mediums and solvents that have virtually no odor...so perhaps as some time in the future (when my paints are all used up) I will switch back to standard oil paints. I use primarily Windsor Newton Artisan paints. I have found them to be very similar in texture and pliability to standard oils. But, I have noticed the water-soluble (or water-misible) paints harden in the tube faster over time. The first step in this painting and in the other one I started the other day, was to transfer the drawing to the canvas or panel. Since I am working rather small, I use my Photoshop skills and I generate a black/white ink jet print at the size I want to work with. I cover the back of the print with a coat of charcoal, tape it to the canvas in the proper position to the composition I want, and lightly sketch or trace in the basic dimensions of the face. Then, with Ivory Black and Titanium White and Artisan's Thinner, I paint in the features creating a marble-like effect...the "grisaille" meaning "gray". The lights should be lighter and the darks not too dark, so that when I apply the glazes the darks will not be overly dark. This happened with my very first attempt at grisaille and the model's skin was too dark. I also blocked in an under painting for the background which will be modeled and shaped with additional color later and lightened up in certain parts.
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