Painting Elsa Day 1 and 2
Repost: https://www.shuchimuley.com/single-post/2017/12/09/Painting-Elsa-Day-1-and-2
In one of the many long pose sessions at studio — Basic Enquiry, I started painting a portrait of our amazing model Elsa. Here’s my process — -
Stage 1: Setup
First, I arrange my stuff. Here’s what I use — oil paints, board/panel for painting, Gamsol, brushes, medium(1/3rd stand oil, 1/3rd linseed oil, 1/3rd Gamsol) and kitchen tissue roll.
I paint on boards that are primed. In case they aren’t primed I coat them either with acrylic gesso or oil grounds. The pre-primed ones I use are from Ampersand and I love them!
Here’s a link for Blick in case you want to buy:
https://www.dickblick.com/products/ampersand-gessobord/
Stage 2: Drawing
I always start by making random marks on my canvas using a mix of Terra Rosa, Viridian and some Gamsol (Odorless Mineral Turpentine). This is just to make a mark on the board. Why do I do it? I don’t know, maybe coz I saw many good artists starting that way and I thought it was fun. :) It also helps me in knowing how absorbent the surface is.
Next, I take some Terra Rosa and start marking in the structure of my portrait. I make lines for where the head will be and also the neck (I always make some portion of the neck). Then, I put in marks for various landmarks such as the eye socket, tip of the nose, mouth accent, chin, pit of the neck, and so on.
I draw directly on the board and make edits using Gamsol. I shift my eyes between looking at the model and my board and also mass in the shadow at this stage.
Stage 3: Color
Now I start painting in the eyes, one at a time.
I clip (using Bulldog clips) my palette next to my panel because it helps in making better color decisions. I look for temperature changes and compare each color that I apply with my previous color patches.
I also look at the anatomy of the head and check to see if I have painted them in the right place such as the eyes to nose triangle, the location of the ear, the distance from the forehead to the eyebrow to the tip of the nose to the accent of the mouth to the chin.
I paint from left to right starting from the light to the shadow. Many artists paint from shadow to light but I still have to try that.
I also painted the background, which I usually do much earlier in the process. It helps fix issues with the form next to it. It is always a good practice to put the colors next to each other and the background early in the painting stage. You should not add the background later since it creates a hard edge when the paint gets dry. Also, remember that with these color choices and temperature changes you are turning the form!
After 3 hours it was time to wrap-up until next Monday, which will be the last session for this pose. I carried my oil painting in my newly created wet-painting carrier.
