Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Jeffrey Whittle in His Studio (work in progress, 19)

19

Finished. These photos reproduce the painting's actual colors a bit more faithfully. Surprisingly, I got better color results using four 60-watt incandescent bulbs to light the painting than with previous setups using twin 500-watt tungsten lamps or natural illumination (northern light around 2 pm.) Go figure. The camera, by the way, is a several-years-old Sony 4.0 mp Cyber-shot. This painting, at 21 x 16 inches, is slightly smaller than the previous example on the blog.


Sunday, December 17, 2006

Jeffrey Whittle in His Studio (work in progress, 18)

18

I've finally gotten all the elements "filled in." Of course, I've tried to make measured decisions along the way, but now I can truly gauge how each component works with the others rather than simply anticipate how they might function together. In addition to working on the likeness (still a bit to go there), I've been making minor adjustments to the color or value of several of the objects in the room. For instance, I highlighted the wall behind Jeffrey's head and torso for a little more contrast. The little red thing in the lower left corner took a glaze of cadmium red light to warm it up somewhat. Next, and lastly, I need to clean up edges of forms and, especially, the intersections and overlaps of elements.


I moved Whittle's proper left eye up slightly. Its position is better, less droopy, but I still have to sharpen up the edges of its eyelid and cornea. I purposely left everything a little fuzzy as I tried to find where the eye should go. His nose was staring to grow a bit too bulbous; I slimmed it down. I'm also in the midst of making little changes to his mouth. Jeffrey's lips have a natural pursed or puckered shape. I just laid a pale pinkish wash over his mouth to soften the contours so that I can redraw the break between upper and lower lips and model them better. I'll probably raise the proper left corner of his mouth as I did his eye.

Jeffrey Whittle in His Studio (work in progress, 17)

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Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Jeffrey Whittle in His Studio (work in progress, 15)

15

Details of Whittle's art in the painting. His work is acrylic over topographic and navigational maps, mounted on board or canvas.

Jeffrey Whittle in His Studio (work in progress, 14)

14

Detail showing the green earth and verdaccio underpainting on the face and hair.


Detail of the modeling on the jacket in shades of ivory black over morellone (red-violet iron oxide.)

Jeffrey Whittle in His Studio (work in progress, 13)

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Jeffrey Whittle in His Studio (work in progress, 12)

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Jeffrey Whittle in His Studio (work in progress, 11)

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Jeffrey Whittle in His Studio (work in progress, 10)

10

Jeffrey Whittle in His Studio (work in progress, 9)

9

Jeffrey Whittle in His Studio (work in progress, 8)

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Jeffrey Whittle in His Studio (work in progress, 7)

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Jeffrey Whittle in His Studio (work in progress, 6)

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Jeffrey Whittle in His Studio (work in progress, 5)

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Jeffrey Whittle in His Studio (work in progress, 4)

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Jeffrey Whittle in His Studio (work in progress, 3)

3

Image transfered to panel, apparent in faint red-chalk lines. A few lines are strengthened with black casein.

Jeffrey Whittle in His Studio (work in progress, 2)

2

Cartoon on artist's "vellum," showing red chalk on reverse and traced contours.

Jeffrey Whittle in His Studio (work in progress, 1)

1

Initial drawing in graphite on Rives BFK paper, same size as panel.

David Sandlin in His Studio (work in progress, 20)

Step 20

I'm calling it done. I've gone back into the painting after a little hiatus. While I worked on another panel, I continued studying this one to see what bothered me most. Ultimately, I made a few minor adjustments to the eyes and mouth, I glazed across the floor with a pale limonite/zinc white mixture to soften the grain, and I added a couple of features of David's painting at the top right that I had initially left out because I thought they might make this painting a bit too busy in that corner. I never could find perfectly accurate colors in this digital reproduction. I hope some of you may have the opportunity to see the painting in real life someday. I don't know how I feel about working on the board's rough, knobby surface. I had to fight the gesso's texture often: washes of color pool in the hollows like water color does on cold-pressed paper and the bumpy terrain makes it a little difficult to draw fine, crisp lines. But, it did make for some interesting effects that don't occur on a perfectly smooth finish, and I'm using the same type of panel on the next painting. I'll post images of that one in progress (with minimal commentary.)


Wednesday, November 22, 2006

David Sandlin in His Studio (work in progress, 19)


A couple of details of the mostly finished painting. For a sense of scale, his head is about 3 inches tall (8 cm) in the painting. I'll let it sit for a few days or weeks as I work on the next painting. A few aspects of it bother me right now, but I'll stare at it for some time and see if they diminish or increase in my judgment. For instance, the photograph exaggerates an awkward spot on his mouth. It doesn't look quite so wrong in real life, but I'll probably go back in a couple of days and mess with it. The same goes for his proper left eye. It looks a bit dead as I study this photo of it.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

David Sandlin in His Studio (work in progress, 18)

Step 18

A lot of work has transpired, most obviously in the flesh tones, shoes, floor, easel, plastic wrap. I don't have sequential images to illustrate the painting of his face and arms, unfortunately. The process proceeded too quickly and I didn't want to break my step to pause and set up for photography. However, here, in words, is roughly how it went: Over the green-earth base coat I began by applying a dark, warm tone in the places where lighter values turn toward shadow. That first flesh tone was composed of a fairly transparent Venetian red tinted with a little white. Allowing the greenish underpainting to peek through, especially in the darkest shadows, I worked that initial reddish color up into the next lighter areas with brush strokes that follow the changing planes of the face. After adding a touch of buff titanium to the same color to lighten and warm the red, I pushed a little farther into lighter passages. Essentially, I carried on with this same procedure with a dozen or so variations, gradually working from dark to lighter values of pink as I modeled the forms of the face and sought to refine David's likeness. Occasionally, I laid a delicate glaze across the entire face or arm to soften brushstrokes or modify a color transition. I find I have to chisel out some of the folds and creases and other details with fine dark markings, every now and then, as the cumulative layers of paint obscure the underpainting. In general, though, I develop the image from transparent darks in the early passages to opaque lights in later layers.

I'll post details of the face and a few other passages that might benefit from a closer look. (Maybe I can actually get the color balance right, as well.)

David Sandlin in His Studio (work in progress, 17)

Step 17

A little behind on this post, the image was taken late last week after working on the pants legs. I tried shooting the photo outdoors to see if I could capture the intensity of the Cobalt turquoise hue on David's jacket, but it seems to be an impossible color to reproduce (even after making Photoshop adjustments.) At least the reds are more accurate than when shot under a tungsten lamp.

Sunday, November 12, 2006

David Sandlin in His Studio (work in progress, 16)

Step 16

Still green skinned, but David is finally getting some color to his clothes. The light blue pigment I used in the jacket trim is actually quite fluorescent in real life, compared to the photo. Some colors just don't translate into RGB. This blue is composed chiefly of cobalt turquoise with a small amount of viridian, and tinted to make a couple of varying values with titananium white. Its shadows are darkened with barely more than a few grains of Milori blue added to the original color. The darker, cooler blue for the rest of the jacket is ultramarine blue, pushed slightly more violet with the addition of ultramarine pink and lightened with titanium. I left the reddish underpainting to predominate in the shadows. His t-shirt is modeled with a fairly intense chartreuse color (chromium oxide green + yellow ochre light) in the shadows, followed by a pale pink (vermilion + white), with highlighting strokes of a very pale cadmium yellow on top. All these areas still require more work to soften the contrasts. After I resolve the torso, I'll post a detail that should show off the colors better. I've just begun bulking up the legs, using hatch work and washes of terra nera Romana mixed with zinc white. Both the black earth and zinc are fairly transparent. When I start painting the lighter tones in the pants, I'll switch over to Mars black and titanium for cooler grays over these warm blacks.

Saturday, November 11, 2006

David Sandlin in His Studio (work in progress, 15)

Step 15

After a few more sessions of work, the rolled canvas on the studio floor is starting to take on a more solid, volumetric appearance. I stepped away from the images on the wall for a bit until I bring the other elements up to a similar finish. You may notice the green cast to David's flesh. I laid down a couple of washes of dilute terre verte over his head and arms and also modeled their shadows slightly with a stronger mix of green earth and verdaccio. The dirty greens work well to enliven the fleshtones, especially in the shadows, once more natural, pink hues come on top. I'll do a similar thing with David's jacket. Its local color will be a rich two-tone blue (kind of like the old man earth behind him) but I want to create subtle iridescent contrasts in the jacket's shadows, so I am applying a complementary orange over the darker values in the jacket. I'll allow those reddish-oranges to show through to some degree in the finished painting for a vibrant contrast. (Or rather, I will if it doesn't look like crap.)

Below are a couple of details following today's work. Still, of course, in progress.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

David Sandlin in His Studio (work in progress, 14)

Step 14

I continue to paint on the right side, refining details, adjusting colors. I am also building up the treatment of wood grain in the flooring. Perhaps a detail of that is due soon. David's charcoal sketch at the left of the panel is re-emerging, faux smears and all. I'm hoping that a volumetric treatment of the rolled painting on the floor, rendered in higher contrasts and more intense colors, will flatten the image behind David onto the wall.

Monday, October 23, 2006

David Sandlin in His Studio (work in progress, 13)

Step 13

I'm working on a few more areas now, simultaneously. I continue to strengthen David's painting on the right side of the canvas, and have started to solidify the white wall behind his head as well as the depiction of his charcoal drawing to the left. My "whites" for those areas consist, at this point, of pale green tones (green earth + titanium white) over the pinkish underlayment. I'm also using delicate grays made from terra nera Romana and zinc white to begin to suggest smeared and partially erased charcoal passages. I applied a faint glaze of light yellow ochre and zinc white over the floor.
The challenge, I think, with my depiction of both David's drawing and especially his painting (besides making them look like his work) is to make them appear at once to be flat surfaces on a wall behind the artist yet have the vitality of the originals. I'm trying to keep their color intensity and modeling slightly in check so that the "3-dimensional" figure of the artist will emerge from the space by contrast.
Though the differences are subtle and probably not even apparent in these photos, a lot of painting has transpired since the previous post. It occurred across small areas and in multiple, overlapping layers of colors.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

David Sandlin in His Studio (work in progress, 12)

Step 12

The painting of the painting behind David is gradually becoming more resolved (though scant time in the studio this week slowed down the process.) Below is a detail of the father and son globe figures. The Blogspot mechanism seems to degrade my image focus slightly, but the hatching technique is still apparent in this blow-up. I'll go to the kid's hair next and the block that the old bearded one is sitting on.



Monday, October 09, 2006

David Sandlin in His Studio (work in progress, 11)

Step 11

I'm continuing to work on the elements surrounding the figure. The practice is still the same as described earlier. I go over previous, thin washes of local color with more saturated glazes. I then modulate and augment those passages with a dry brush and more opaque colors. In general, I model each area of color with overlapping hatch marks of progressively lighter values; i.e., from dark to light.

Thursday, October 05, 2006

David Sandlin in His Studio (work in progress, 10)

Step 10

I'm going to keep the figure of David unworked for a while, as I begin to bring the other areas around him closer to a finished state. I'm glazing with more fully saturated colors, but mainly modulating the surface with a close pattern of translucent and opaque hatchmarks. What I want to do is surround David with approximations of the color values and resolution of forms that I think I want to end up with. I guess I'm trying to "set the stage" he inhabits before developing the central figure, rather than bring David into focus and then work the space around him. Also, I'm painting the elements in the pictorial space from back to front, distant objects first. I think that kind of actual, physical, overlapping of painted forms helps to create a sense of objects situated in a believable space, one in front of the other. Certainly, once I begin to render David's figure, I'll have to make adjustments to the other areas. There will be a lot of give and take among the elements as the painting progresses. Athough the area of the painting in the upper right corner where I've concentrated looks relatively complete, it is by no means so.

Monday, October 02, 2006

David Sandlin in His Studio (work in progress, 9)

Step 9

I have begun to apply transparent washes of local colors over my monochromatic underpainting. Basically, I want to establish the general color array of the composition. I'm mixing very dilute glazes of inherently transparent pigments -- yellow ochre, terre verte, prussan blue, red earth, etc. If I need to add white pigment to the mix, I'll use zinc white, which is much less opaque that titanium. I want to ensure that the details of the underpainting are not obscured at this early point.

Sunday, October 01, 2006

David Sandlin in His Studio (work in progress, 8)

Step 7 (or 8...)

I've gone about as far as I want to with the underpainting. A little more umber, white, black, and Venetian red casein. I could probably take it a bit farther, but, as is usually the case, I stopped when I became impatient to work in color. So, the next step is to brush over the entire surface with a dilute egg yolk wash (around 8-10 parts water: 1 part yolk) to seal the surface somewhat. The casein surface is fairly "thirsty." If I prime the underpainting with a little egg, the tempera goes on easier in the early passes.

Saturday, September 30, 2006

David Sandlin in His Studio (work in progress, 7)

Front surface

Back of panel

While I normally prepare my own boards with home-made rabbit-skin glue gesso, this time I'm painting on a vintage, commercially prepared gesso panel. I recently bought a number of panels, probably manufactured in the 1940s-50s, from the estate of Athens, GA, artist Frank Ruzicka. The panels have a rough, spattered texture instead of the usual smooth finish. The gesso was obviously sprayed on. It's a nice surface to work on. I've seen temperas by Reginald Marsh from the '40s on boards with a similar surface. This is a 24 x 30 panel that I cut down to size.

David Sandlin in His Studio (work in progress, 6)

Step 6

I have just started working across the image with white casein. Some passages are scumbled, or kind of broadly washed, most are built up with small hatch marks. With casein, I've found that if I dilute the white too thinly in washes, it may look wonderfully subtle and perfect, but when I come back over it with the first washes of egg tempera colors, the palest white washes have a tendency to disappear. I'll continue refining the forms and details with white a bit longer before I return to the darker values.

Friday, September 29, 2006

David Sandlin in His Studio (work in progress, 5)

Step 5

I have now brushed over the whole panel with a couple of thin veils of Venetian red casein washes. I'm not worried about the uneven application of color. There's a lot more that needs to occur to the underpainting. This step provides a nice middle-ground value and injects a warm glow that will affect all the subsequent colors to follow on top of it. I'll work into the image next with white casein to bring back lighter values, and also punch up the darker values with black. The casein I'm using on this painting is Shiva brand tube colors. I sometimes mix dry pigments into straight casein emulsion, but the tubes are pretty convenient.

Thursday, September 28, 2006

David Sandlin in His Studio (work in progress, 3 &4)

Step 3

I've started working over the transfered chalk lines with dilute burnt umber casein paint and a fine brush. Casein is a relative of egg tempera, but instead of using egg yolk as a binder for the pigment it uses a milk-based glue. You can still see some of the red chalk indications and I have begun to model the figure's forms with washes of casein and hatchwork.

Step 4

Here's the more complete state of the initial underpainting. I try to develop a lot of the detail and values that will guide the color work to follow.

David Sandlin in His Studio (work in progress, 2)

Step 2

This faint image shows the results of transfering the composition from the original drawing to the gessoed panel. I made a tracing of the drawing onto "vellum," a.k.a. tracing paper. Across the back of the vellum I rubbed a coating of red-earth chalk. Actually, the chalk is a chunk of naturally pigmented, dry clay purchased from an art supply store in Florence, Zecchi, and really well suited for this purpose. I fix the tracing to the panel, chalk side down, and draw over the lines again to impress them onto the surface of the gesso. It's like using a carbon paper to make a copy. What's the point of going to all this trouble, you might ask? Why not just draw an image directly onto the gesso? Well, rabbit-skin glue gesso is very absorbant and fairly soft. I mess up a lot when I'm trying to find the forms in a composition. This way I can work out a lot of the initial problems on paper and erase or redraw as often as need be without mussing up the gesso surface. When I finally get the drawing right, or close to it, it's a simple matter to dupe it to the panel. The next step is to reinforce the transferred image. Some people use dilute India ink, or egg tempera. Lately, I've preferred to use casein paint.

Below is a photo of my pieced-together vellum. The blue dots are just some adhesive drafting tabs I had on hand that I used as tape.