SOLD Head study 40 minutes

Jean asked me to talk a bit about how I do the quick studies. I tone the canvas ahead of time with a neutral grey or a midtone skin color. I do not start the quick study till the toned canvas is totally dry. I squint a lot!!!! I think mostly in terms of darks, midtones, and lights. I use as large a brush as humanly possible. Only at the end do I shift to a smallish brush. For these I used Liquin as the medium because it drys quickly. I also used Liquin mixed in the underpainting/canvas toning. I do all drawing with a #2 filbert brush using burnt umber.  I used a full color palette for the ones I am posting...however...if you are new at this, to start try using a limited palette of Yellow Ochre, Terra Rosa, Ivory Black and Titanium White. The black is actually very blue...so use it as a blue. Do not add much white to the Terra Rosa (it will make it chalky) instead use Yellow Ochre, only add white when nothing else will work to lighten. These colors work as primarys and can help you paint faster and will always have a color harmony. I hope this helps!!  The portrait here was done with a full palette in 40 minutes. Stop when the timer goes off. Oh, something else that helps ona 40 minute study, is to set the timer for 20 minutes, when it goes off walk away...get a drink of water, walk the dog, come back...look at it, then set the timer for 20 more minutes and do what your eye told you to do when you got back from your very short break!! Click Here to Bid