Figure and Portrait Drawing & Painting Lessons

I met Elma at one of my art shows and knew that with her beautiful and strong features she would make a stunning subject for a painting. She and her husband graciously supplied me with some black and white and color photos. This B/W pose seemed to best express the “attitude” I wanted for this character study.

I drew directly on a 16”x20” untoned canvas with vine charcoal, more interested in capturing gesture and attitude than likeness. I used the 4”x6” black and white photo taped to the edge of my canvass for reference. The movement and drama of the pose was accentuated by exaggerating the diagonal lines established by her shoulder and face. Running the top of her head off the canvas increased the movement of the image and the impression that this subject’s personality could not be contained. Additionally, by connecting the head to the top edge of the canvas, thereby establishing contact with three edges of the canvas, the image seemed more stable or solid. This also reinforced the design element of the triangle shape which was repeated throughout the drawing. Can you count the number of explicit or implied triangles on this canvas? In fact, the foundational design of the painting is three triangles: two formed by the bg and one by the subject making a nice tension between the stability of the triangle or pyramid shape and the frenetic hair and diagonal action lines

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After fixing the drawing with hair spray, I did a thin turpentive burnt sienna/yellow ochre wash over the flesh and ultramarine/alizarine wash over the hair area. I wiped out areas to achieve various shades of dark and light. For color and value reference, I washed in red for the lips and earring. Shading was added to the hair next to the distant edge of the face to “separate” the face and hair.
Although I usually work on a toned canvas, on this painting I wanted the more luminous quality thin washes on white can achieve. This worked particularly well in the shadow and hair areas where I never introduced much opaque paint.

I built up additional washes and then began adding more opaque pigment, spending most of my time on establishing the planes of the face.

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I progressively increased the application of opaque paint and worked out the modeling of the skin and facial details. I wanted a severe, and yet not harsh, expression of a woman who knew who she was and what she wanted. What kept going through my mind as I painted was, “this woman is a queen.”

I also began introducing a simple background and working on the earring accent element which complimented the lip and facial detail nicely. I purposely kept the hair loose and transparent.

To complete the painting I softened some of the lines in the face and neck and painted in the shirt and background using colors in the bg that harmonized with the skin colors. I did not want any detail in the background to compete with the powerful facial image. Opaques were added to the light hair tone on the left to contrast with the bg and suggested hair detail. The right hair areas were left very transparent with only small amounts of opaque white to highlight the gesture and action of the hair. The shape of the loop of hair curling down the neck is purposefully exaggerated to dramatize the turn of the head and gracefulness of the overall pose.