Portrait Painting, Two Masters, Week 3's Painting Finished

Finally, I am calling it done -- the Rembrandt-like study. Obviously, Rembrandt was a great master, and I am not. However, I like that it captures some of the ideas of Rembrandt: the dark moodiness, the feeling that is comes out of the darkness, the islands of light. So here is is in all its glory.

Portrait Painting, Two Masters, Week 3's Painting Continued

In class we are no longer working on our Rembrandt-like study. However, I took a picture of the painting so that I could continue it.

I was not entirely happy with the under-painting for this particular portrait, so I made some corrections, particularly with the shirt and the hands with opaque paint.

In doing that I liked the figure much better. However, I lost some of the transparency from glazing. For instance, the head now looks like a cardboard cutout. After the paint dries, I plan to move in with some glazes, to see if I can get that homogeneous look and feel again.

Portrait Painting, Two Masters, Week 3

This is my second portrait painting class with Mariana Carreras. In this class we will be studying the works of two masters, Rembrandt and Frida Kahlo. I am working in oils.

For week three, we spent the final session on our painting, attempting to use some of the techniques that Rembrandt used. This time we played with color. We used translucent paints with medium, like raw sienna for some yellows, and burnt sienna for some reds. We also used some opaques like yellow ochre and titanium white. I even snuck in some cadmium red, even though that was not available in Rembrandt's time.

This week I focused in on the face of the model. In fact, the rest of the painting is pretty much untouched. As a result, I am including pictures of the full painting and a close-up of the face, so you can see all the color I used.

Obviously, the painting is not finished. I did take some pictures of the model, and, as much as I hate painting from photos, I plan to continue this painting.

Portrait Painting, Two Masters, Week 2

This is my second portrait painting class with Mariana Carreras. In this class we will be studying the works of two masters, Rembrandt and Frida Kahlo. I am working in oils.

This is week two of our study of Rembrandt. This week we made a glaze of a mixture of ultramarine blue and burnt sienna, covered the whole painting, and scumbled in some titanium white. In particular, we tried to give emphasis to our areas of focus, leaving the other areas dark, similar to what Rembrandt might have done. In my case, the areas of focus are the model's face and the skull the model was holding.

Here is the result of week two's work:

Portrait Painting, Two Masters, Week 1

This is my second portrait painting class with Mariana Carreras. In this class we will be studying the works of two masters, Rembrandt and Frida Kahlo. I am working in oils.

For week one, we started studying Rembrandt. In doing that, we tried to create a painting with contrast between light and dark, focusing details on what we want to show, and subduing the details of what is not the focus.

The painting I am posting here is not complete, by any means. This is the result of the first of three classes we will spend on it. In fact, this is simply the underpainting, or grisaille.

Portrait Painting 101, Week 6

My new class at The Drawing Studio is called Portrait Painting 101, with Mariana Carreras. I am working in oils.

This week, the last week of the class, we continued the portrait that we started last week. Like the first painting, I scumbled in some paint. This time, however, I scumbled in some flesh tone, using Titanium and Cadmium Red, to add some variation. I also went in with some Cerulean Blue in the shadows. Here is the result:

Portrait Painting 101, Week 5

My new class at The Drawing Studio is called Portrait Painting 101, with Mariana Carreras. I am working in oils.

For week five, we started a new painting. This painting, we went back to the indirect method. This week we painted a model holding a wine glass, starting with the under-painting, using burnt umber over a burnt sienna glaze.

Here is my under-painting. Next week we will complete it.