A Direct but Considered Approach to Painting a Portrait
Ihave always been attracted to “direct painting” as a method for working in oil. It allows me to express a visual interpretation of my subject while at the same time retaining the characteristics of the paint, application process and artistic decisions I made while creating it. This “painterly” approach lends a quality of spontaneity to the work as well as allowing the viewer to visually participate in my process as I translate my visual experience into the language of paint. However, don’t make the mistake of confusing “painterly” with fast and reckless paint strokes made in a passion of creativity because this method actually requires a process of thoughtfully considered applications of paint, and it only appears to be quickly executed due to the economy of those paint applications. Let’s take a step-by-step look at this process used in my portrait of Sarah.
STAGE 1: I begin with a 24-by-18-inch canvas panel. I cover the panel with a turpentine wash of cobalt blue, yellow ochre and a bit of titanium white loosely applied with a broad bristle brush. I do this to give my painting surface, a value similar to that of my grey palette. Any value that I mix and judge to be correct on my palette will also appear to be correct on the canvas.
STAGE 2: The next step is to establish a simple block-in of my composition using a middle tone mixture of blue and white. This pale drawing can be easily modified or corrected by wiping out any mistakes and reapplying the initial wash mixture and redrawing with the blue. When I have established the size and attitude of the head, I am ready to apply some color.
STAGE 3: Using a broad bristle brush, I loosely apply thin mixtures of alizarin and white for the lightest values on the face and neck. Mixtures of cadmium red deep combined with ochre, cobalt blue and white are used on the side of the face and under the chin where the values are darker. These applications are thin and can easily be over-painted without interfering with later applications of color.
STAGE 4: Now I return to the middle tone mixture of blue and white to establish my drawing. First, I carefully locate the shadow shapes around the eyes, under the nose and upper lip, then under the lower lip, chin and ear. After I am comfortable with the placement of the primary features, I indicate the hairline, necklace and robe.
STAGES 5A, 5B AND 5C: I now begin with “direct painting.” First the eyes and nose (the focal area of the painting) are developed. Each piece of paint that I apply is carefully considered for its shape, size, value and color. Placing one considered piece of paint next to another, I construct the areas of the eyes and nose, then on to the mouth, chin and ear. The mixtures are combinations of ochre, blue and white; cadmium red and white; alizarin and white; alizarin with blue and white; and transparent oxide red, blue and white. You may notice small areas of the original blue drawing show between some of the paint applications. For the moment I leave these initial brushstrokes as I placed them without blending or softening their edges.
STAGE 6: At this stage I begin adding the darks of the hair and background, mostly mixtures of blue and transparent oxide red with bluish highlights in the hair as my primary light source is the cool light from a north facing window. To add emphasis to the coolness of the lights,
I introduce a warm secondary accent light back and behind my subject. This accent adds some visual drama but more importantly it enhances the impression of cool light on the forwardfacing features of the face.
STAGE 7: I continue to develop the clothing and adjacent background areas, keeping in mind that these areas constitute design shapes that can enhance the composition.
STAGE 8: In the final stages of the painting, I begin selectively softening edges on forms that I wish to recede into the background or where value or color changes may be too abrupt. I try not to overdo the blending or softening of the original paint applications as I do not want to take away from the freshness of the paint applications, and that maintains a sense of vitality and spontaneity in the work.