Figure and Portrait Drawing & Painting Lessons
A painting demonstration in oil on a 12 x 9" canvas 2001
By William Whitaker
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This is the state of the painting at the end of the first session. With neither face nor hands to slow me down, I was able to bring it along quickly. The neck and back remind me of Ingres and I’m motivated to try and make the work look finished at every stage. I’m using both pointed sables and filbert bristle brushes. I blend with an old worn sable. I’m painting this on a 12x9” linen canvas stained a grey color made of ultramarine blue and raw umber that is thinned with a mixture of 90% turpentine and 10% Graham Walnut/Alkyd painting medium. I rubbed the wet painted surface down with a rag to achieve the tone I wanted. My favorite brown is Gamblin’s asphaltum and I used it for the darks. The lights were made of Old Holland Cremnitz white mixed with just a dab of raw sienna. I mixed just a little walnut/alkyd medium into the paint to make it a little more supple and sensitive and to help it dry faster. I’ll put it aside and let it dry and take it up again day after tomorrow and start in with color. |
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Two days have passed and the painting is dry. I have no idea where to start up, so I do what I always do. I begin with a task that could inflict the least possible damage. I use my painting knife to scrape off any lints and any bumps on the painting surface.
I'm using two Silver Brush 1003 Filberts, three very inexpensive Loew-Cornell artificial filberts that I buy in a craft store, a Daniel Smith #4 sable, and an old worn out D. Smith #4 as a blender. I start on the white drapery, but soon switch to the center of interest, the female back. I put some paint on the turban and pretty soon I'm warmed up. I stop thinking and begin to paint by instinct. I use a limited palette of colors. I work carefully and patiently and am proud of it, since by nature I'm neither careful nor patient. To show rebellion against my mid-twentieth century art training, I use the old sable as a blender. Remember kiddies, using a blender is bad! |
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By William Whitaker
Visit William's Site: http://www.williamwhitaker.com/