Before we get painting let’s talk a little bit about designing our piece. Often, artists will create small sketches called thumbnail sketches. In this process we get to play with composition, value and even color. I will walk you through the process…
Now it’s your turn. Select some reference images that resonate with you and begin to do some really simple thumbnail sketches. Play around with placement and value. How do you want to crop your image? Or edit it? Remember you don’t need to include everything in your reference images. You can take things out or add elements in. It’s up to you. You can even doodle on your printed out reference images as I ended up doing!
Do you see how this can be valuable when creating a painting? It is not always necessary of course, perhaps you prefer to work more intuitively, as I often do but it is a good practice to understand.
For my reference image I chose this woman. She totally touched my heart and her gesture captivated me. She is from a mental institution in the 1900’s and I wanted to capture her image for this project. I had sketched her a while back when she first caught my attention. I only had my daughter’s blue marker and an old blue pastel but I had to, in that moment, get her down on paper.
REFERENCE IMAGE
Remember you are welcome to pick a different image from our historical photo library.
For this painting, I want us to stay in a mostly monochromatic color scheme. This way we can really explore shades of blue and value. I ended up adding some greens and touches of warmth into the window but the figure is mostly blue. Limiting our palette is a great exercise. Have fun!!
***The video begins with my wood panel already toned - (darn camera, sorry) but all you missed was me painting the board with a Raw Umber wash. You can do this with your oils and thin out the paint with the Gamsol or simply water down your acrylics and make a wash. The oil wash will stay rather wet as you will notice. I just proceed with my drawing.***
Remember to share your portraits in the Facebook group! I can’t wait to see what you have created!
Let’s continue on to our Beyond Blue Piece…