The Artist_s Magazine 2016-03__

38 http://www.artistsmagazine.com

everything.InthethirdsittingIinalizedthe

painted sketch ( 2 ). hings were looking up.

Transfer of Sketch

I was ready to transfer my composition onto

thefull-sizedcanvas,whichIdidusinga

grid. I wanted the composition to be oriented

vertically to accommodate Yael’s standing ig-

ure, her head at the apex of a Degas triangle.

DrawingmygridforthesketchwithaSharpie

on acetate allowed me to play with the inal

composition by shifting it up and down over

the painted sketch.

When I was happy with my choice, I

marked out a corresponding grid on the large

canvas and transferred the design with char-

coal ( 3 ). A transferred design is always a little

shocking because any distortions in the sketch

become obvious at the enlarged scale, but I

knew I would be able to rei ne and change the

i gures when the family returned. Referring

to my painted sketch, I applied color over my

charcoal drawing. I thought of the color as a

series of provisional choices ( 4 ).

Mixtures and Measurements

h e family posed as a group for several more

sittings, which enabled me to work out their

places in space and adjust their contours. I was

working aggressively with the paint at this

point. I started each painting day by making

mixtures cut with Cremnitz white of several

colors that I knew I would use: raw umber, raw

sienna, Venetian red, terre verte, dioxizine

violet and a neutral mixture of ultramarine

blue and cadmium orange. I would also create

a mixture consisting of my darkest colors—

ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson and phthalo

green. his mixture is literally darker than

black. If you have trouble believing this, try

mixing it yourself and then compare it to Mars

blackoutofthetube.hismixturecanbe

inluenced to favor any of its three components.

By the end of the i rst sitting with the large

canvas, most of the paint from the design trans-

fer had been covered. When I needed to make

changes to the shape and position of the i gures,

I did. I also introduced a series of comparative

measurements based on the children’s heads.

You can see my marks, digitally enhanced for

visibility, on the left edge of image 5.

h e stage set for the painting is mini-

mal, but the objects—chairs and rug—made

demands on where I would place the i gures.

h e rug was helpful in this respect because

mathematical constancies of the dimen-

sions and pattern helped me place the sitters’

feet. h e wheeled structure at the base of the

Mission chair had similar qualities.

Managing Attention Spans

A big part of the process of painting the por-

trait was keeping the subjects amused as they

posed. h e family would bring a movie to

34

ABOVE LEFT: 3.

(February 21)

Compositional draw-

ing transferred to

full-sized canvas

ABOVE RIGHT:

4. (February 22)

Provisional-color

block-in