The following are process shots from an oil portrait I painted at the Palette & Chisel in when I recently visited Chicago.
Time: 5 hrs.
Colors: Titanium White, Yellow Ochre Pale, Permanent Red Medium, Terra Rosa, Alizarin Permanent, Ultramarine Blue Deep, Cerulean Blue, Transparent Oxide Red.
Looking for the large pattern of light and dark to establish form. Not terribly concerned about color at this point, just value and color temperature.
I threw in the general color and value of the shirt. I decided to start locking down the nose/mouth area and work my way out from there, making careful comparisons as I go on.
I got rid of the white of the canvas with some thin washes and wiped out/'fogged the areas on the left and continued to work carefully, stroke by stroke from the right side of the face.
Restated the shoulders to better express the model's gesture.
I used a palette knife to apply paint to the back ground and to place the head against the background. This helped to prevent those edges from getting too sharp.
The final result.
