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Portrait of Anna.2nd Classical Oil Paintings Video Workshop

| Contents| Drawing| Imprimatura| 1st Umber| 2nd Umber| 3rd Umber| 1st Dead| 2nd Dead| 1st Color

| 2nd Color| Finishing| Discount|

Contents

In this video workshop, we'll talk about paining a female portrait using the Flemish technique, a method

known as the seven-layer painting. Its main features include the following stages:

White priming with subsequent ink drawing;

Imprimatura, the selection of the medium tonality of the lightest spot in the painting.

The next stage is the Umbra Underlayer, made by burned umbra, whose main property is that it does not

get lighter in time. This quality of burnt umbra guarantees the tonal stability of your painting throughout

centuries. Besides, it accelerates drying.

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The next layer is the Dead Underlayer, required for the final completion of tonality and for the

preparation of the surface for color layers. The Dead Underlayer is particularly important in painting a

portrait, as it helps to depict the complicated colors of the human complexion.

Next come the color layers. The skillful combination of the dead underlayer and the color layers can help

you achieve the miraculous effect of the Old Masters.

And, finally, the finishing layers, whose function is to complete the texture characteristics of the painting.

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Drawing

Before the Imprimatura layer is made, the pencil drawing must be outlined in ink. We use pen and ink,

first, to verify the correctness of our drawing. Secondly, the oil layers will wash away the pencil drawing,

but the ink outline will be visible through the first several layers, helping us in our work.

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Imprimatura

The first oil layer is the imprimatura. Let's treat our chalk priming with refined linseed oil. This providesa better cohesion of the primed canvas with the subsequent color layers.

Flake White, Yellow Ochre, Lamp black, Prussian Blue, and Burnt umbra are the paints used to make the

imprimatura mixture. We also use a varnish mixture, consisting of 8 parts of turpentine and 2 parts of

Damar Crystals. The imprimatura mixture must have an olive hue.



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Having wiped away the remains of linseed oil from the canvas, we apply the imprimature mixture with a

coarse bristle brush, rubbing the mixture into the primed surface. After that, we use a fluffy squirrel

brush to eliminate uneven areas. The priming that has absorbed the oil and the varnish of the imprimatura

mixture has better cohesion of the following color layers and the canvas.

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1st Umber Underlayer

It takes seven days for the imprimatura layer to dry well, and we begin preparing the canvas for theShadow or Umbra underlayer. We oil the surface and scrape it with a razor blade to remove dust and

some bush hair that may have stuck to the surface. According to our scale, the imprimatura layer has

tonality four.



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The canvas will remain wet for one day, that is why you should begin with the most important details of

your painting. By the end of the day, wipe the unpainted areas of the canvas well with a piece of dry

cloth, trying to remove excessive oil. On the next day, oil the dry areas locally. Work with the umber the

way you would use water colors, that is keeping in mind its transparency.

In the first umber underlayer, you need to pay special attention to the construction of the details. The

general work on the tonality should be left for the second umber underlayer.

Let us now define a few terms that we are going to use during the entire workshop. The painting brush. It

is a kolinsky brush used to apply paint to the canvas. The correcting brush. It is a dry kolinsky brush usedto correct the paint layer. The generalizing fluffy squirrel brush is used for the final smoothing out of

uneven places on the surface. Please note the brave and confident movements of the painting brush. The

correcting brush, on the contrary, is used with carefulness and precision, whereas the large fluffy

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In this layer, we are defining the location and the outline of main shadows. That is why, having made

sure that the shadows are located correctly and are not too dark, we go on filling in the empty spaces. The

hair will be soft and fluffy, but, nevertheless, don't forget about its construction. At this stage, be careful

with opaque strokes. However, if they do occur, don't worry: they can be easily fixed with the correctingand later with the generalizing brush.

The anatomy of the human face can be discussed and studied endlessly. My only comment now would be

that if you make a mistake in the anatomy at this stage, it will be very difficult to improve in thefollowing stages. Be very careful, therefore, with bones and muscles. Jean August Dominic Engre, a

famous artist and teacher of the 19thcentury, said that the drawing includes everything except the color.

All our preparatory layers are in essence a drawing. It means that the most important work on the portrait

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I can't help mentioning a special attitude to the contour of the face. On the one hand, it must be distinct

and correct, on the other, the fluff and the air perspective make it necessary to soften the contour.



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After you have finished this layer, let it dry. Depending on the climate you live in, you can put it aside

and do other things from one to four weeks while the layer is drying. It is not recommended to accelerate

drying artificially. To accelerate hardening of oil paints, the Old Masters placed their paintings in the sun.

Now, some advice to a portrait artist wishing to become more successful. Pay more attention to physical



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likeness. Don't worry about penetrating into the model's soul. If you achieve good physical likeness, your

critics will appreciate that. Try to find and accentuate the most beautiful features of your model.

Remember, the most pleasing thing, particularly for a woman, is her reflection in the mirror. Try to make

her portrait even more pleasing to look at.

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2nd Umber underlayer

Our canvas was drying for three weeks. We begin the next layer with the routine preparation, carefully

removing excessive oil. This process must be carried out before you begin every subsequent layer. In

classical painting, each layer must be made in such a way as to cause the viewer's admiration. This,

perhaps, contributed immensely to the Flemish Masters' success. Nevertheless, no one can be sure to

avoid mistakes in some layers. It is the multilayer technique and the duration of the painting process that

allow us to successfully eliminate errors.

The goal of the Umber layer is to correct the construction of the details, which we'll be doing in the next

layers too. The second objective is to achieve the necessary darkness of the tonality. In other words, the

goal is to correct the work done so far, and to prepare the painting for the next stages.

We need to find the tonality of all surfaces in that layer as precisely as possible, because in the next dead

underlayer, we should rely on this layer as if on a tonal scale. The high lights that you can see in the



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pupils, on the nose and on the cheeks, will be overpainted in the next layer. I leave them for one purpose

only: in order not to lose as long as possible my emotional attitude to the model.

Engre said, "The beginning should have in itself its end". Each stage should be performed in such a way

so that you can present your work to the public's judgement at any time. At every moment there should

be likeness approaching perfection by the end of each stage. Scrutinize your work from a distance as

frequently as possible, turn the painting upside down, look at it in the mirror, or just ask your family's

opinion about it. This always helps refresh your vision.



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Sometimes, particularly when you start with a very light imprimatura, as we did in this portrait, two

umber underlayers are not enough. Because while working on the details, we may fail to notice theintensification of tonality that can destroy the details that we have already worked on. That is why,

sometimes, working on a portrait you need to make several umber underlayers. For example, I am now

tempted to darken the light parts of the chin and the lips with a large brush, but because the details are

wet, I am unable to do so, and obviously, I will have to make the third umber underlayer. Let's condense



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the tonality where possible, and put the painting off till the next umber session.

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3rd Umber underlayer

A week has passed. We begin the third umber underlayer, oiling and scraping the canvas surface. Use

your favorite thinnest brushes to work on details.

This old heavy graphite holder does not have anything to do with the Old Masters' secrets. I just think

that a heavy brush is better controlled. If we compare a classical painting with a symphony, then I'd say

that this work in umber (or shadow) layer is associated for me with the bass line, the deepest, velvetybass, because the main goal of this stage is to develop shadows.



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The Old Masters, in their maturity, painted the umber underlayer in such a way that they didn't have to

overpaint it. Good examples of that are small still lives by Jan van Huysum and small oil sketches by

Rubens. I'd like to attract your attention to the way we create the effect of highlighting the face with a

beam of light in the dark space. In order to make the face lighter in relation to the rest of the painting, all

other objects should be placed in the shadow. In our case, the white blouse takes too much attention. To

avoid that, we throw some shadow on it.

Speaking about the brushes, I forgot to mention the eraser. Instead of the eraser, you can use your finger.

Also, please note that the palette is white. When making the imprimatura and the umber in the

transparent layers on the light priming, dark palettes are not recommended as they do not explicate the

degree of transparency of your mixtures. And on the contrary, in the subsequent color layers, when you

start working with light paints, a dark wood palette is preferable.



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Thus, the required tonality has been achieved, and we are ready to continue our work. The painting must

be dried well before you begin the dead underlayer so that the umber underlayers do not dissolve frompossible wiping and correcting of the dead underlayer.

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1st Dead Underlayer

The lightest tonality is the third, it is a step higher that the tonality of the imprimatura, next tonality is theone between 5 and 6, then couple tonalities (warmer and colder) in 12 and finally the 2 darkest ones in

areas 18 and 19.

I make my first few mixtures beforehand. The mixtures are based on Flake white with some light ochre,

burnt umbra and Prussian blue. The work in the dead underlayer must be carried out almost tone to tone

with the umber underlayer, perhaps in the light areas - a bit higher in tonality, but in the shadows - a bit

lower.

However, in half tones we should try to stick to the underlayer tone. Successful work in the umber

underlayer allows us to somewhat relax in terms of the search of the form and likeness and concentratehttp://www.artpapa.com/anna2/index.html (17 of 55)3/10/2007 3:40:58 AM


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on the technique, that is on the routine process.

I think that the most complicated genre in painting is the portrait, the female portrait. Still more

complicated is the portrait of a beautiful young woman. Nevertheless, don't be shy to depict her wrinkles

and other imperfections. They will be not very noticeable after you work on them with the correcting andwith the generalizing brushes, but they will contribute to the effect of likeness.

A little remark about the eyebrows. Paint only the shadows of the eyebrow hair, don't paint the hair itself.

One of the goals of the dead underlayer is to get a sufficient amount of paint in the light. The closer to the

light, the thicker the paint layer is, the closer to the shadow, the thinner it is. The task of constructing and

perfecting the details should always be kept in mind until we reach the finishing layers.



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As I promised, the pupils are painted with the darkest mixture on the palette. The eyelashes are also

painted with the darkest paint. On the iris, there is a shadow from the eyelids and the eyelashes. The

construction of the iris can be represented by a circle covered with lines going from the outer edge of the

circle to the center. The symmetrical eyes lie on the cylindrical shape of the face, that is why at the

slightest turn of the head they no longer look symmetrical. After a good blending, it is advisable to work

on the eyes again with the same color mixture in order to achieve a greater paste deposit. After that,

blend again with your fluffiest brush.



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Depending on the quantity of oil absorbed by the dry surface and the temperature conditions in which

you work, the fresh paint layer may harden and lose mobility during one work day. That is why

sometimes you need to blend the area that has been just painted, sometimes you can blend all painted

areas at the end of the work day. If the most complicated genre of painting is the portrait, then the mostcomplicated element of the portrait is the eyes. We should always remember about the anatomy, about

the eyeball, about the shape of the eyes, their angle, proportions, the distance between the eyes, the size

of the iris, the diameter of the pupil, and their correlation, the size of the high light determining the

shining of the eyes, and, finally, the color of the eyes, that can only be seen correctly by their owner.



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As you know, the human skin is semitransparent, almost translucent. Under the skin, there is

pigmentation. Depending on the amount of time the person is exposed to the sun, it becomes lighter or

darker. Let's now remember some childhood experiences. When you fell and scratched off the skin on

your knees, the first thing you noticed to your horror, was the gray color under the skin. And only after a

while drops of red blood would appear. The nature of the human skin is very complicated and its

representation on the canvas must differ from the representation of the pink Barbie doll surface. When

visiting museums, try to learn to see the technical aspect of painting. Most of the Old Masters' paintings

are so perfect that it is not a very easy task. That is why, however paradoxical it may sound, look for

unfinished pieces, or for paintings by not so skillful artists. These works reveal the technique best of all.

Everyone can admire a painting, but to see the dead underlayer is more difficult.

Before visiting a museum, you need to do your homework. On pieces of cardboard, small enough to fit

your pocket, paint the details that interest you, and having come to the museum, compare your work with

the original. You can also find technical descriptions made by artists themselves, for example, The

Treatise on Painting by Leonardo da Vinci. But a better object of study is paintings themselves. Only the

analytical copying of paintings can help us all regenerate the lost classical painting school.

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2nd Dead underlayer

The second dead underlayer would not be necessary in a still life or a landscape. However, in a portrait, Irecommend making the second dead underlayer in order to increase the thickness of the color layer in

light places, and, of course, in order to continue work on the details and likeness.



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If there remains some oil on the hardened layer surface, the cohesion of the newly applied oil is worse.

One of the ways to improve cohesion is to warm the canvas by rubbing it with your hand.

Your lightest mixture is the same as in the previous stage. It only looks lighter because in the previous

layer, blending has softened the difference between the neighboring layers. Besides, after drying the

canvas for a month in the open sun, the first dead underlayer has become much more transparent and we

are now able to see more of the umber underlayer.



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The typical mistakes of beginning artists working in this technique during blending, that is when using

the correcting and the generalizing brushes, are the following: first, excessive pressure on the brush,

second, thoughtless mechanical movements, third, not wiping the brush between light and dark pigments.

A few words about the types of dead mixtures. The tonality and the hue of the mixture depends on whose

portrait you are going to paint. If it is a portrait of a child, the mixture must be the lightest and the

coldest. It has a somewhat ultramarine hue, but no ultrmarine is added, of course. If you are painting a

portrait of a youth or a girl, the tonality is neutrally blue. The portrait of a mature woman of 30-35 years

of age requires a sky blue warm hue. The bristle and the suntan of an experienced man require more

green nuances. In a word, the thicker and more suntanned the skin is, the darker and greener the dead

underlayer is. The skin colors are brighter and more opaque, the lighter and more transparent the skin is,the lighter and colder the blue hue of the dead underlayer is. The color layers should be made thinner

and paler, leaving more uncovered dead underlayer areas. Naturally, all that blueishness and greenishness

is achieved with the same paints, by means of the balance between red ochre, Prussian blue, burnt umbra,

Ivory black and Flake white. In the skin layers, to your dead mixtures used in the portrait, you need to



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add Cadmium Yellow Medium, Chinese Vermilion Extra and Permanent Madder Deep (Krapplack).



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1st Color Underlayer

Having removed dust and oiled the canvas, we begin work.



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I think that the position of paints on the palette is a matter of taste. Flake White, Cadmium Yellow

Medium, Yellow Ochre, Chinese Vermilion Extra, Flash Ochre, Burnt Umbra, our gray mixtures that we

used in the dead underlayer, Ivory Black, Permanent Madder Deep, Prussian blue,

7 parts of turpentine and 3 parts of damar. The amount of damar relative to turpentine increases in the

finishing layers.

The main component of color mixtures is the gray paint used in the dead underlayer, with a little of

Chinese Vermilion Extra, Yellow Ochre, perhaps a little Cadmium Yellow Medium, and burnt umbra in

the shadows, and sometimes Permanent Madder Deep. Thus, we are trying to leave as much deadunderlayer open as possible, particularly in half-shadows.



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In the lightest areas we must achieve the thickest paint layer, and in the next tonal step down towards the

haf-tone, the paint layer must be much thinner, almost transparent. I must warn you: if you make a thick

paint layer on the light forehead, try to avoid dragging this thick layer all over the face when correcting

and shading.

In connection with that I would like to repeat again: the painting brush is used to apply the necessary

amount of paint, the correcting brush is used as a palette knife of a sculptor: it distributes paint on the

canvas in areas of different thickness and removes excessive paint. The fluffiest generalizing brush,

touching the painted surface with the very tips of its hairs, by no means reaching the dry layer,

smoothens the external texture of the fresh paint.

If you feel that you have made a mistake in applying paint, or if you used the paint of the wrong tonality,or if you would like to have more gray in a certain area, stop your work and do it again. With a clean

cloth wrapped on your finger, remove the fresh paint. The advantage of working in the multiplayer

technique is that it can be compared to work on the computer. Drying a layer is like saving a file. When

you resume work, if something goes wrong, you can delete the fresh paint and go back to the saved

image; having oiled the surface, you can start the stage you are working on afresh



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In general, if you are learning the classical painting technique, you should understand that in this school,

the craftsmanship, the ability to work with materials, the knowledge of methods and recipes are of utmost

importance. The most important, perhaps, is the ability to believe in these rules without questioning, your

thinking must be directed at studying rather than at analyzing, you will need your analytical ability later,

after we have studied all the Old Masters advice contained in books.

However, lets go back to our portrait. Using light ochre, burnt umbra and the gray mixture lets make

the iris warm, light green. At this, lets not overpaint the gray underlayer but only hint at this color. Also,

using Prussian blue and the light gray, lets make the whites somewhat bluish, leaving as much gray

underlayer unpainted as possible.



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Why does the persons excitement reddens the persons nose, ears, and cheeks? This happens, perhaps,

because the blood vessels are close to the surface of the skin, consequently, from a distance, it seems that

the skin changes its color in general.

The human body has a number of parts that artists dislike to paint. For example, bare feet. They,

however, can be hidden in grass. Ears are also a very complicated object, but they can be hidden in the

hair or under a hat. Hands can be hidden in the pockets or behind the back. The nose is the most

complicated detail, there is no way for us to hide it. The most sarcastic jokes concerning portraits are

related to the nose. That is why if we are not certain in the way we portray the nose or any other parts of

the body, we must take a pencil and paper and by tireless practicing in drawing self-portraits turn our

disadvantage into our strong point.



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Lets now talk about the color of the lips. I want to warn you against mistakes made by many beginners:

dont make lips covered with lipstick. Using about the same mixture that is used for the nose, with some

Chinese Vermilion Extra in it, leaving as much unpainted dead underlayer as possible, we can achieve

the maximum possible redness of the lips.



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The lips are more like the mucous membrane than the skin, but because the lips are outside and are

subject to the influence of the sun and the wind, the thin glossy surface wrinkles, forming a wavy relief.

We should distinguish the pinkness caused by the thinness and transparency of the skin, in this case the

color comes from under the skin, its the color of the blood, and the pinkness resulting from the color of

the suntan. The latter is a kind of external coloring resulting from the change of the pigmentation of the

skin caused by the sunbeams. In the latter case the redness gets somewhat orangish. A little practical

advice: try to avoid depicting the suntan, even if your model spends all the time in southern beaches. If

you make the models skin pale and transparent, she will be only grateful to you. The suntanned skin is

beautiful in real life, in the portrait it doesnt look very well.



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Thus, the high color of the cheeks is partly the natural pinkness of the body, partly the suntan, and partly

it is the warm shadow under the cheekbone. In the old times, in order to achieve the natural pinkness of

the cheeks, many women rubbed them with pumice stone. Dont hesitate to show more rouge in the

portrait, it looks good. The main thing is to find the correct shape of the rouge area. Dont try to find its

shape in your model. Look at the most famous female portraits of the 16-17th

centuries. I want to warnyou, dont make the rouge too close to the nose, the pinkness around the nose indicates that the person

has a cold.



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Lets not forget that the cheek is disappearing in the perspective, dissolving in the contour of the face.

From layer to layer, we work on that contour and do everything lest it should look cut off.

We are not very lucky: the ear is not hidden in the hair. The good news is though that it is in the shadow.

Lets make it hot, in accordance with the shadow tonality.



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As far as the neck is concerned, I can say the following, the amount of sunshine falling on the neck is the

smallest, thats why it is the least suntanned part, especially, under the chin. The suntan is seen, in a

small degree, only on the collarbones.

Lets now work on the lights that are almost dead and lighten them by somewhat warming the shadows.

As you may have noticed, this method differs from the realistic dogmas. The classical painting lives by

its own laws. In the realistic school, it is the accepted norm to depict what the artist sees as close to the

model as possible. In the classical painting we have the firm laws of the method. Plainly speaking, the

classical technique is more conservative and is based on craftsmanship, knowledge and skill to a much

greater extent. Thanks to that, it is characterized by a greater learnability than the realistic method. The

success of the realist artist depends largely on how well his or her name has been publicized and on the

gallery that helps the artist. A classical painting, on the other hand, does not need much publicity, it does

not depend very much on the name of the author. If a painting is made according to the craftsmanship

laws of the Old Masters, its success is guaranteed by the centuries-long quality test.



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2nd Color Underlayer



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We rub the surface with a half of an onion, as during the three months the painting has overdried. The

onion essential oils destroy the microfilm of the surface and ensure good cohesion with oil paints.

Then, we scrape off the dust and wipe the surface to remove excessive oil.

In this layer, we are going to use the same palette as in the previous layer.

This color layer will be thicker than all the previous layers, that is why we need to make a sufficient

amount of mixtures. The lightest mixture, let's call it the forehead mixture, will be used in the lightest

parts of the face. Another mixture, with some Chinese Vermilion Extra in it, will be used as rouge for

light parts of the cheeks and nose. And we'll need another mixture, a warm dark one, to be added to

shadows. When making this mixture, we also add some Chinese Vermilion Extra.



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The goal of this layer is to give the final characteristics of the color, to achieve the necessary amount of

paint in the lights, and in the maximum degree to complete the nuances of the shadows.

The painted area is smaller in this layer in comparison with the previous one, we are not working on thehighlights yet, but on the lightest parts of the light areas. As far as the shadow parts are concerned, like in

the previous layers, the paint layer should be made as thin as possible.

About the half tones I can say only this: they should have been finished in the previous layers. However,

if in this layer you haven't worked well enough on the color characteristics, you can, without destroying

the main coldness of the half tone, add some color strokes, with subsequent blending, of course.



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order to depict an element of a painted surface. For example, to depict the chin, we use three valeurs,

they are the shadow of the chin itself, its color, and its lightest part. But, if we look at lightest part of the

chin, we can find several valeurs there, too.

The terms I've been using to define certain qualities of the classical painting technique are in a certain

degree conditional. Unfortunately, there doesn't exist a professionally compiled dictionary of artisticterms. The best we can do is to refer to one or another generally recognized author, or to take the

responsibility of finding a reasonable term ourselves, based on the material we have read and studied, as

well as on our beliefs and knowledge.

It is now time to discuss one more term: the color integrity. It means the adjustment of the intrinsic colorsof objects resulting from the color of the source of light. In the light parts, the color adjustment may

depend on the sunlight coming from the window, the half tone color depends on the dead underlayer, and

the shadow parts should be adjusted in relation to the light coming from the darkness, for example, from

a fireplace or from a candle.



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You can now see an attempt to support an element of the color integrity in the cold half-shadow between

the light and the darkness: the cold half-tone spreads all over the portrait. It must also be present in the

background.

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Finifing Leyer

Thus, the main work has been done. Now we need to complete our portrait. We shall place the final

highlights, add some more color at places, and work on the tiniest details. We shall sign the painting and

leave it dry until it is ready to be covered with varnish.

The high light in essence is the depiction of the degree of the reflecting ability of the surface, that is of its

texture. The smaller and brighter the high light is, the glossier the surface is. The larger, softer, and

calmer the high light is, the matter the surface is.

Without doubt, we can say that the glossiest surface is that of the eye, that's why the high lights on it are



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as sharp as on a water drop. However, even here the size of the high light means a lot. They say that a

healthy eye has some tear in it, it is a little wet. In order to achieve this, the contour of the high light must

be made as sharp as possible. Give the high light as much texture as possible, make it as high as you can

without increasing its size. We should carefully analyze certain areas of the skin, it is clear that the chin

and the cheeks are the mattest. The second in matteness is the forehead, and the glossiest will be the tip

of the nose. That is why, when you make high lights on the forehead and the cheeks, don't forget to blend

them well, otherwise the skin will look wet.

As we can see, the high light of the eye is very far from the lightest part of the skin. It is made on the

basis of Flake White with some Yellow Cadmium Medium and Chinese Vermilion Extra. To avoid that

mixture being too bright on the skin, it is made duller with burnt umbra.



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This method is believed to have been invented by Leonardo da Vinci and is called "sfumato". The goal is

to eliminate contours where possible, we blend them to disappear in the air perspective. In general, it is

very difficult to learn something from Leonardo da Vinci because his technique is flawlessly perfect, and

as a result, unobservable. His numerous treatises on painting and philosophy can only inspire art

theoreticians.



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There are two main requirements to the portrait. First, the portrait must be a precise depiction of the

model's face, second, the portrait must be an object of art itself. In order to be a successful portraitist, one

must learn the canonical proportions, especially the details of the face, eyes, nose, mouth, ears and hair;

to understand the construction of the human skull, to learn to depict facial expressions, deformations due

to age, and the difference between the male and the female face. You should constantly practice in

sketching portraits, body positions, facial expressions, practice in painting parts of the face, for example,

the nose and the eyes at different angles. And only after you have mastered all these foundations, begin

copying the Old masters' painting, preferably, their originals in the museums, or, in the worst case, very

good reproductions.



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When painting the details of the hair, don't try to paint every single hair, or a single hair as a whole. Hair

is a very delicate object, it dissolves in the space and from a distance we can see not the hair itself but

some of its high lights and shadows.

Experiment, search for the direction of the curl, make a series of sharp high lights, just outlining the

character and the structure of the curl. The most frequent mistake of the beginners is the desire to paint

every single hair, every curl, which creates a wiry effect, making it look unnatural. Hair must remain

fluffy, mixing into the background.

Thus, we are coming to the completion of our portrait. I will briefly remind you of all the stages:

The pencil drawing is outlined in ink; the next stage is the imprimatura, that is the selection of the middle

tone of the lightest area, in our case, of the face. After the imprimatura has dried, several umbrahttp://www.artpapa.com/anna2/index.html (52 of 55)3/10/2007 3:40:58 AM


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underlayers are made. Umbra is in essence a tonal drawing.

The dead underlayers come next. Their purpose is to complete the tonality and to achieve the necessary

thickness in the light areas. The dead underlayers have the valeurs of half tones and the valeurs of cold

nuances of the color layers.

After the dead layer, there comes a couple of flesh-color layers, that bring the color characteristics to the

portrait.

We finish the portrait with one, and sometimes with two texture layers, that define the color and the size

of the high lights. We work on the tiniest details and the characteristics of the surfaces.

After six months of drying, the painting is covered with vanish. The proportion of the damar varnish for

covering is two parts of turpentine and one part of dry damar, or the ready-made damar varnish sold at art

supplies stores.

I wish you success in your work at mastering your painting technique!



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portrait of anna

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