Tuesday, March 16, 2010

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.