Step 8, Copy of Ingres, Face finished

The face has now been completed. All that is really left to finish is the hair. The shadows on the face are now at their full darkness. They had been held in reserve until now. Notice that the eyes have darkened, and all the details of the face, like the lips and nose are much more refined. There are approximately 5-6 layers on the face now, and you can see through most of those which gives depth and luminosity to the skin. The hair has also been strengthened with the darker values in the shadows. Very little paint is used at this stage, just the thinnest glaze of pigment mixed with pure walnut oil. Soft brushes are used to feather out any hard edges. The portrait is now prepared to add the detail and final highlights of the hair. This stage shows another 60 hours of work since the previous step.

Step 7, Copy of Ingres, Coat finished

The man's coat now has the final color on it. 2 transparent layers of color were applied using three different values of darkness. The white shirt was also painted with 2 layers of thicker whiter paint. But never was the underpainting obliterated. You must continue to let that underpainting show through to give form to the shirt. The shadowed areas are much more transparent than the bright areas.

The face also has its first two layers of real color on it. 3 values of flesh have been mixed up and applied all over the face. Correcting the shapes, working on the transitions between light and shadow, and warming up the flesh are all part of this step. You can start to see the face becoming less monochromatic and more like the colors of skin. As always, darks stay transparent, lights move more to being opaque. The final layers of color will bring out more of these subtle color variations.

I am now having trouble with dust, now that paint is thicker, and I am using much more walnut oil medium in these layers. Although it may not look like much has happened, this stage shows about 75 hours worth of painting since the last step.