Commissioned Portrait
Oil Paints
16 x 20
Baby MayLan
Portrait in Oils - Step One:
I know that this is somewhat hard to see but it is my Step One painting with oils. I first drew the portrait with a Conte pencil (red brown shade). Next I added the blue gray underpainting. Believe it or not we have some blue in our skin color, other than, of course, people of color who do not have blue undertones. I 'scumbled' the undercoating, because to me, when the undercoating is just painted in the normal fashion it is just to flat for my liking.
Next I painted what is referred to as 'lean' layer (vs 'fat' layer). A 'lean' layer of paint is very thin. The goal is to just block in some color. I will most likely add a second 'lean' layer and then finally a 'fat' layer which will be a fully loaded brush of paint!
Once this dries, which will take a few days, I will paint the skin. Mixing the skin tones will be somewhat challenging because this is a babies skin which is smooth and beautiful and has not been exposed to the outside elements. Until next week!
