9 x 12 ins, canvas
In November I enlisted the help of this very gracious family member to help me follow the instructions of Brian Neher on the Craftsy video course ‘Painting Realistic Skin Tones in oil’.
We set her up near a North facing window, with a suitable background, and I took about 60 photos of her. Together we chose a few that we both liked and I settled on this pose.
The photo shows the colors a little incorrectly-the shadows are not quite that brown. However, I’m not satisfied with the shadow colors. I mixed cadmium red medium, yellow ochre, titanium white and a touch of viridian, aiming for grey, but the mix went more easily to a brown hue than a grey one. I need more practice and experimentation with this-does anyone have any tips?
I’m looking forward to trying the next one!
marymayhewart 
This is lovely, well done! I KNOW how hard portraits are!! Take away the viridian and add Ivory Black and you will have a Zorn palette – and plenty of scope for grey! For a good source of free tips for portraits etc I recommend Will Kemp’s Art School online http://willkempartschool.com He also does a great intermediate course on skin tones, if you feel like spending a few $$$’s
LikeLike
Thanks Hilda! I’very looked up William Kemp and read a lot of his material. It was very interesting and helpful. Thanks for the suggestion.
Mary
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re very welcome, Mary! đŸ™‚
LikeLike
I really like this painting, espeially her eyes. The skin does look brownish, perhaps that is an advantage of taking a photo, even if it’s not that brown in reality. Maybe less yellow ochre? I would be very plaesed if I’d done that myself!
LikeLike
Thanks Hilary! I’m still working on the colors and trying out different combinations. A long process…
Mary
LikeLike
I love this! I’m no paining artist, so I can’t say if I know what I’m talking about or not (hehe), but you did splendidly! Human portraits are hard, but you did quite well here! Lovely work, Mary. Can’t wait to see more of what you’re working on!
LikeLike
Thanks Ashleigh! I’m glad you like it on the screen! Perhaps you’ll see it in person soon. I tried another photo session with Katherine, but not sure that the photos are as good. I’ve been painting Abigail since then-almost finished!
LikeLike
I love this! I’m no painting artist, so I can’t say if I know what I’m talking about or not (hehe), but this is splendid! Human portraits are hard, but you did quite well here!
Lovely work, Mary. Can’t wait to see more of what you’re working on!
LikeLike