How to Make an Alla Prima Portrait

The portrait is one of the most complex subjects because it must transcribe all the expressiveness of the face through multiple shades and details. There are two pictorial methods: the so-called traditional “slow” method, consisting of superimposing layers of paint and the alla prima technique, that is, painting in one sitting while the paint is still fresh.

Yair Shoshani is a painter from Brooklyn, New York. At the moment, he is considered one of the best portrait painters in New York. His work is constantly demanded by personalities of royalty, aristocracy, politics or culture.

Here, this painter shares more about the alla prima technique.

The Alla prima technique

Shoshani explains that this Italian term dates from the Renaissance, it means “to paint in the fresh” or to paint in “a single spray”. The traditional stages of roughing and glazing are then non-existent, making this method somewhat modern, simple and practical. The Impressionists understood it well, since then this process has become the main way of painting in oil. This practice is favored by the very long hardening time of the oil. This is what the alla prima technique consists of:

· Painting as a whole and not detail after detail.

· Layer and juxtapose colors before they harden, without really mixing them up.

· Quick and controlled gestures to avoid alterations and maintain spontaneity.

· Give the “visual impression” rather than realism in form and line.

Portrait alla prima: 1st step, the shapes

As Shoshani further explains, the first step in the production is to apply the general volume of the subject by setting up shadows and highlights, using neutral colors such as shadows and ochres.

Portrait alla prima: 2nd stage, the volumes

“Gradually, the artist superimposes his shades, blending them with each other without, mixing them completely,” explains Shoshani. “The painter enriches its colors by varying the shades, some going towards green, others towards orange or even purplish, etc. The shadows also have several degrees, their intensity varies up to very dark without falling into the dark. He works the entire artwork, not area after area. Only shapes and volumes are put in place, details only come last”.

Portrait alla prima: step 3, lights and shadows

“It’s time to paint the background. Since the paint is fresh, the color will blend in with those of the face. And for greater overall harmony, the background color is found among the shades used for the face, for greater unity and pictorial coherence,” says Yair Shoshani.

Yair Shoshani continues the progression of his portrait by accentuating the shadows and the lights. light shades sometimes going up to pure white. Always by superimpositions and juxtapositions of small touches melted one to the other, then attenuating the traces of brushes, creating a soft modeling.

Portrait alla prima: step 4, details

Finally, little by little the details are put in place with patience and thoroughness.

“Here the artist spends about 1/3 of the time placing small touches here and there; Some hair and beard hairs, some reinforced wrinkles, flashes of light, darkened shadows, etc … The more details, the better the realism,” says Yair Shoshani.

It’s the attention to detail that makes all the difference. In a masterpiece, nothing is left to chance, everything is mastered, even this feeling of incomplete! By removing the superfluous, you show the essential.