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

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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.

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

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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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Jeffrey Whittle in His Studio (work in progress, 16)

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

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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)

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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)

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

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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)

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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)

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

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

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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.)