This was the start of my under-painting After gridding the images/paper (A4: 2cm x 2cm A1: 6cm x 6cm) I began applying paint.
Under painting consists of earthy colours in which form shapes and tones -the light parts and dark parts- of the painting, The colours in which are mainly used are ochre, umber, brown etc. These earthy colours are seen to be subtle and so when painting on top they wont show through.
I chose to use umber and ochre. Upon application, i used water in order to dilute the paint as well as use the water to provide me a variation of tone of the paint.
Progressing into the next stages of the under-painting, It becomes more apparent as to which areas of the painting retain more tone and which parts do not.
The nose is now more defined and you can see the where the shadow in which the nose makes on the left hand side of the face, as well as where the light hits my neck and where my hair casts shadow.
The lips are slightly higher, than where they are in the photos, therefore I am in need to lower them when i paint over the the under-painting I need to keep referencing the photos, seeing as they are my main guidance, to which structures my A1 portrait.
The under-painting is now almost complete. The background is fully painted, as well as the face and neck. All that remains to be done is the rest of the hair.
The hair was harder to do, than the face seeing as the highlights are very fine and I wanted to get in as much detail as I could using the ochre and umber, in order to make the painting easier, however I feel accomplished in the sense that it is taking shape and it does still look okay (I am still looking back at the photos top do this, due to the fact that it is very important that i get the shape and tones in the correct place).
Under painting is now COMPLETE!
Tones are now definitive and I can see where I am to apply the colours.
(Of course, depending on the area of the the painting, will determine the shade and overall colour of the paint in which I am to use there, once again referencing back to the photos for guidance).
Under painting now well and done. I am to start the next stage of the portrait.
In a Jenny Saville inspired style, I will use the painting technique impasto to finish the portrait. An image of a Jenny Saville painting is located by my photo, this will help me obtain the right colours and style to which I am to apply to the under painting.
Using only the primary colours (white and black included), i have to mix them to get the colours I need.
So far, so good.
The face is now complete.
Impasto is a painting technique that isn't smooth or precise, its rough, textured and lively. Bearing in mind that that is the style in which Jenny Saville works in, I have to put myself in her shoes and really let myself go when painting this.
As well as using colours that she would use, when painting I had to be careful not to go overboard with the abstracting colours and make sure I retain the life like feel to my painting, because I still have to make it look like my photo..
After getting the face done, I will have to start on the hair. For this, I use a dark blue as a base colour. I use it as a base colour for the dark areas due to the fact that my hair in my photo is dark, therefore reflecting my dark hair in the style of Jenny Saville (because in the image i have beside my painting she has not used natural colours).
As well as that, it will be clearer as to where the highlights are in my hair once I paint them in. (I have started to paint them in as you can see in the painting on the right -which is a close up of the painting on the left-) why I started to put the highlights in at such an early stage of the painting is because I wanted to make sure it worked in the painting and to see if the colours I had mixed were of the right tones.
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