http://www.painters-online.co.uk artistMay 2020 47
PRACTICAL
emotional attachment or bias and
you are completely reliant on the
visual information of the photographic
mechanical device. This method does
not cut corners or help you out if you
can’t or don’t want to draw freehand;
its sole purpose is to eradicate a
traditional relationship of painting
the subject matter using conventional
layering techniques and allows the
artist a greater amount of concentration
in areas that are usually unnoticed.
Gridding an image can be time
consuming but it gives you a greater
idea of visual idiosyncrasies happening
in a single photograph. Whether it’s
a landscape or person, you are then
automatically more aware of certain
textures and details present in the
image. I always paint my portrait from
top left to bottom right. As the paint
dries I can slowly work on the next area
and, being right-handed, my wrist or
arm won’t hinder any wet areas of oil
paint.
The grid is only there to guide and
direct you to the visual information
needed to transfer from the photograph.Painting the boxes square by square
would be extremely boring and time
consuming, so instead I select areas of
the face to concentrate on over a day or
two, working about five to six hours in a
sitting. These areas are relatively small
and need to have a similarity of tonal
balance or texture, so the section can
be completed without making drastic
tonal changes on the palette.
It’s essential to have a good routine
when painting in this style, as the
time dedicated to each section has to
be similar to each area of the piece.p STAGE ONE
I first gridded the photograph then transferred the information to the canvas.
Simple lines and contours denoted the areas I needed to be aware of in relation to
tone changes and shadow lines. The forehead was painted with a base layer, and
then gone over in detail, picking out the lines and dots of the skin pores in the
frontal areas. The warmer areas were added to the side closest to the camera
Oil colours used
Burnt sienna, burnt umber, emerald
green, phthalo blue (red shade) phthalo
green, alizarin crimson, ivory black,
cadmium yellow, Naples yellow, lemon
yellow, cadmium orange, cadmium red,
cadmium red deep, vermilion red, magenta,
quinacridone magenta, ultramarine blue,
Prussian blue, sap green, olive green,
manganese blue, yellow ochre, raw sienna,
purple lake, Indian red, indigo, yellow grey,
titanium whiteu STAGE THREE
I worked around to the hair and right side of the
cheek, applying a subtle shadow area that was cast
by the braids. The right side of the cheek had a lot
less detail but there was still enough to read as
skin textures
p STAGE TWO
A lot more detail was applied as I moved into the eye
area, adding more intricate details for the pores of the
skin around the eye, nose and cheek area, which was
built up by its base tones, and then blended with a fan
brush before adding the last level of scrutinised detail