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.)