5 Finishing and highlights

The modelling stage of the painting continues until I call it finished. Now I add the lightest lights, in this case, the planes of the face lit directly by sunlight, the eyes and so on. I work on flattening the background so the strokes don’t interfere with the portrait. I also work on the fabric of the model, although I keep the shapes fairly simplified and loose.

This technique of placing patches of paint of different values and colours next to each other to create turn in form is called tiling. These areas usually have more reds in them. The jaw and chin areas have more greens in them, especially for men. The...