A couple of months ago I wanted to do oil sketch practice portraits...and Carey had posted some pics of her kids. I asked her if I could paint Matthew and she said yes.
The intention for this was not to be a long painting, but an alla prima sketch, one sitting. Quick.
The first one I did was a total bomb because the drawing was off. And it was also taking forever. So I scrapped the panel and started over. I did the drawing in charcoal and it has been sitting around for several weeks waiting to be re-painted.
Which I did today.
Kids are very, very difficult- the younger the harder, and it is a bit nerve-wracking to show the painting to the child's mom...but I made Carey promise we would still be friends anyhow.
For what this is, I am pleased with it. It fulfilled my intentions of being a sketchy alla prima oil child portrait. This is hard stuff and I should practice more. I learned a lot doing this little painting. Mainly, if something looks weird, that something might be fine but something else around it might be off, making it look weird. That happened a few times.
8x10 oil on panel, 4 1/2 hours-ish.
The palette is very simple.
I used my Williamsburg Italian earths, a Rembrandt ivory black, Vasari ruby red, Ultramarine blue, and good old fashioned flake white. There is nothing like lead for skin tones, especially for a child. I wanted the look and feel that lead brings. Lead is toxic in powdered form, if inhaled or ingested, but I don't see any issue at all painting with it.
The intention for this was not to be a long painting, but an alla prima sketch, one sitting. Quick.
The first one I did was a total bomb because the drawing was off. And it was also taking forever. So I scrapped the panel and started over. I did the drawing in charcoal and it has been sitting around for several weeks waiting to be re-painted.
Which I did today.
Kids are very, very difficult- the younger the harder, and it is a bit nerve-wracking to show the painting to the child's mom...but I made Carey promise we would still be friends anyhow.
For what this is, I am pleased with it. It fulfilled my intentions of being a sketchy alla prima oil child portrait. This is hard stuff and I should practice more. I learned a lot doing this little painting. Mainly, if something looks weird, that something might be fine but something else around it might be off, making it look weird. That happened a few times.
8x10 oil on panel, 4 1/2 hours-ish.
The palette is very simple.
I used my Williamsburg Italian earths, a Rembrandt ivory black, Vasari ruby red, Ultramarine blue, and good old fashioned flake white. There is nothing like lead for skin tones, especially for a child. I wanted the look and feel that lead brings. Lead is toxic in powdered form, if inhaled or ingested, but I don't see any issue at all painting with it.
The charcoal drawing for placements.
(I had to fix the shoulder)
I don't know what he is supposed to look like but I think it is very good. I am sure Carey is still your friend.
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