Colors in Portraiture Continued

Again, the purpose of color is to add emotion, excitement, and impact to your portrait:

Review: We begin with a good sienna sketch of the subject, taking care to add shadings:

Then we add the color according to a system that I will detail below:

It is important to note, even before we start adding color, that getting a really good fresh and spontaneous sketch of nthe subject with accurate values is very often more important than adding color. Also, we need to observe that the monochrome underpainting in sienna already has a subtle kind of color:

(Portrait of Corle LaForce)
This being said, very often the modern portrait implies a vibrant use of color:

(Portrait of Carlo Bianchi).
Here color is combined with expressive brushwork.
The process we want to follow is this (Sandon method:)

1. add dark colors (state shadows)


2. add transition halftones)


3. add halftones: lower, central, upper third of face)


4. add lights: central, upper, lower third of face -- that order


5. restate colors: do reflected light, restate darks, halftones, lights)


6. particularize: eyes, eye details, nose, nose details, mouth, mouth details, hair, hair details

Let's consider the colors used in this portrait:



First of all, we notice the changes in color are subtle. More important than color is value and the modeling of planes that create surfaces for light to flow over the face.

Nevertheless, the colors bring life and drama to the portrait. In this case the dark and light greens of the background complement the reds and pinks in the complexion of the subject. Note the ample use of white paint to create the needed highlights.

The colors in this instance were limited: alizarin crimson and titanium white, ultramarine blue, burnt sienna, and yellow ochre. In some areas I used veridian and cadmium red light. That was the total list of colors used.

Next I will discuss some of the theory surrounding use of color in portraiture.

COMPLEMENTS

The Munsell Color wheel is a modern approach to color mixing:


This is the one found on Wikipedia.

There are five primary colors: red, yellow, green, blue, and purple. The secondary colors are: green-yellow, yellow-red, red-purple, purple-blue, and bluegreen.

Here are some notes on how to use all of this information:
Color Harmonies: Try to paint with any of these color harmony schemes:

1. primary harmony: use only red, yellow, green, blue, and purple (Munsell)


2. adulterated harmony: use primaries mixed with adjacent secondaries -- you make secondaries by mixing two primaries. The traditional secondaries are orange, green, and violet


3. use just the secondaries on the color wheel
   
4. tertiary harmony: use all six teriary hues -- teriary hues are formed by mixing a primary with a secondary


5. tetrad harmony: use four evenly spaced (any) hues around the color circle

1. state shadows: Use a mix of dark1 (burnt sienna, viridian, cad orange) either cooled down (add more viridian) o5 warned up (add cad red light or burnt sienna or alizarin or cad orange or a combination of any of these). This dark1 should be a brown-red-slightly green color.

2. Transition halftones: at the edge of your darks start to add a warmer and lighter color. A micture of halftone 2 and cad red light. Halftone two is a mix of white, yellow ochre, cad red light, chromium oxide green, and cad orange)-- it can be cooled or warmed pretty much the same way as withj dark1. It is basically a burnt sienna looking color, a warm red brown. It helps make the transition from your dark shaows to the light areas of the canvas. Use on the nose and the cheekbone areas.

3. Halftones in the lower third: Warm halftones. On male faces use a cooler version to simulate beard beneath the skin. this is a redish-brown color cooled with green. Note that the lower third is darker than the other two thirds.

4. Halftones in the Central third: Like a band of lighter, more orangy and ruddy colors. This area covers the nose and extends to the sheeks and other areas. Paint violet neutrals around the eye sockets and shade one side of the nose. When yoiu paint, use just a few brishstrokes with a big brush to state this band of bright colors: a few strokes to the left of the nose, on the nose, and to the right of the nose will suffice.

5. Halftones in the Upper third: Haltone2 plus cadmium orange. This should be a warm golden color. On the shaed side of nthe forehead darken this mixture with a neutral to introduce a greyer aspect of this mixture.

6. Halftones in the hair: merge hair and forehead forms using a neutral color.

7. Lights in the central third: Alizarin and white. Again just a few strokes here and there. Keep the eyes loose by adding a few strokes to provide general statements.

8. Lights in the lower third: Halftone 2 with a neutral color. Use a few strokes to define light falling onto area above the upper lip and on either side of the mouth.

9. Lights on upper third: Use impasto by mixing alizarin, cad yellow, and white. A few strokes should suffice.

10. Add lights to the hair with a neutral. Keep brush strokes visible.

More to come...



stay tuned.

Adding Color to a Portrait

Colors have these dimensions: Hues, Values, intensities

Popular portrait colors:

UB Ultramarine Blue
CB Cerulean Blue
Ver Veridian
COG Chromium Oxide Green
AZ Alizarin Crimson
BU Burnt Umber
BS Burnt Sienna
CO Cadmium Orange
VR Venitian Red
CRL Cadmium Red light
YO Yellow Ochre
CYL Cad Yellow Light
IB Ivory Black
W White

D1 Dark One : BS+Ver+CO ( a brownish-red warm dark color)
D2 Dark Two : BS + Ver + CO + W

N1 Neutral3: W + IB + YO ( a grey)
N2 Neutral5 same lighter
N3 Neutral3 same still lighter

HT1 Half-tone One: W+YO+CRL+COG+CO (orange)
HT2: Half-tone Two: W + YO+CRL + Ver (yellowish)

L1 W + YO + CRL (bright pink)
L2: Light Two: W + YO + CRL + CB lighter
L3: same still lighter

This week (first week of February) we will continue our study of colors used in portraiture.

Later we will study direct painting with very little or even no preparatory sketch, but for now we follow the more traditional, academic approach.

At my reception Friday (Springfield Museum, 6 - 8:30 pm), I will have some of my portraits on exhibit similar to the following:



This painting, "The colonist (Monroe)" , is in the academic style of the British School which influenced the early American school of portrait painting.



Also, one academic Italian portrait that was created using a four-step process shown below:

Portrait Class Lesson 2

We will continue to emphasize drawing. This time we will work from a live model. You should concentrate on the head and face not the entire figure. We will also add color in a controlled manner:



Step1: Use tone as well as line. This indicates areas of shadow. Sometimes it is ok to use just line but painting will be easier later if you use some tone and shadings here. The point is also to leave some of the underlying canvas showing through the drawing, either pure white canvas or the toned ground.

Step2: Use big brushes to mass in the larger forms. Use alizarin crimsin plus white for the pinks on the cheeks and nose. Use ultramarine blue and white plus alizarin crimson and white for light highlights on nose and forehead. Use warm colors for highlights (cad red light plus yellow ochre plus white.


Establish color mixes: one pale rose and the other pale olive. The first is cad red light, raw sienna, and white the second is green, yellow ochre, and white for the olive.

Establish a color mix for shadows: Below the chin, green, yellow ochre, cad yellow, and white. Under the nose, raw sienna, burnt sienna, and white. Dark parts of the hair are alizarin and black plus ulta ble and biurnt sienna.

Note: In class this week we would like to get to this stage within one hour and then switch to another pose and try to get to the same stage on another canvas or board. The goal is to practe the sketch and then the large block in. Here is another example:

Portrait Class Begins

Welcome to the portrait class (started up at Maude Kerns 1/14 on Wednesday evening). Looks like we have a full house at 16 people signed up!

Announcement: Everyone is invited to my opening reception at the Springfield Museum.. There will be some portrait examples.

The outline for the class:

• Equipment and Set up


• Basics and Concepts of Painting


• Classical Academic Painting


• Direct (Alla Prima) Painting


• Demonstrations


• Working from live models


• Looking at Good Examples

I talked about two different ways of establishing your preliminary drawing: the Renaissance style and the Modern style. The Renaissance approach uses a moe or less complete drawing with very little white canvas showing. The modern approach is more sketchy leaving a lot of white canvas.

(The Renaissance Style)
Note that using this style the artist spends a significant amount of time developing the Grisaille(F r. "Grizz-eye: grey")I prefer Sienna to traditional grey but either is good. Traditionally it is a monochromatic underpainting (imprimatura) in grey or brown.

(The Modern Approach) This is a more limited (sketchy) drawing done with the brush
Using a #4 bristle filbert If possible.

We started by concentrating on drawing with the brush trying to create subtle, soft edged likeness. The drawing has to leave a lot of white canvas showing. I emphasized that we need to spend at least two weeks drawing and re-drawing until we master this idea. The drawing, when properly exectuted, has half-tones as well as the full range of values from zero to nine.

To get ready for painting you will need brushes and colors:

Use Graham paints
Use a limited palette

1. Ultramarine blue


2. Alizarin Crimson


3. Cadmium Red


4. Cadmium Red light and/or Cadmium Orange


5. Cadmium Yellow Medium


6. Burnt Sienna


7. Thalo Green


8. Yellow Ochre


9. Titanium White


10. Ivory Black

In this class we will learn how to combine the Renaissance and modern portrait painting techniques. The modern approach calls for spped and direct painting. The older Renaissance methods call for careful drawing and slow, indirect painting, often building up the portrait over time, using glazes. Both approaches and/or a combination of the two are taught in many academic settings today.

Preview of modern approach: We build a portrait in four steps:
Step1: the sketchy drawing shown before that positions the head and establishes relative distances for key features (this process is called "mapping").
Step2: indicating the darker areas of the drawing:

Step3: add color: Pay attention to warm and cool colors and keep values in mind when painting in color. Also get masses right first, not a focus on details:

Step4: Add halftones and detail eyes, nose, mouth, hair

Looking at Examples: What was just shown was a very quick, rapid fire demo. In actual practice, taking more time with each step, results are much more refined. How much "finish" to give a portrait depends on the painter's goal. We shall discuss this in future classes. Here is a "finished" portrait of an Italian soccer player completed using this 4-step method:

Starting to paint again

It has been a tough two weeks with final exams, grading for three classes, and getting a show hung. Anyway, now with a two-week break I can finally get some painting in:

Recently sold this figurative work, "The Art Class":



Now working on larger group scenes, some more abstract than others. This one is "Serie di rivoluzione quadro uno":



And another, "L'ultima Cena":



In these recent works, preparations for a show at the Springfield Museum, I seem to be moving even more into abbreviation of form and seeking a connection with unknown narratives. Perhaps the narrativeare really known, its just not yet clear how the innovation in expression will link up with more explicit, more detailed areas of the canvas, if that becomes necessary.

Last Week of Narrative Class

We will have the model again but this will also be a chance to rap up certain concepts and review the fundamentals.

We have talked about a goal of producing large, classically inspired academic narrative paintings while remaining modern and informed about the principle of abstraction.

Narrative Painting unfolds intuitively

Well...its November already and I have to get ready for my DIVA exhibit at the end of this month and, I have just confirmed my exhibit at the Springfield Museum for January. The DIVA show will mostly be landscapes but I hope to include some recent figurtive experiments, perhaps work done while teaching this class, the narrative painting course at Maude Kerns.

This was painted last night:



"Untitled"

News flash: Because of a family emergency, I am forced to sell a much cherished painting as soon as possible. This is my "View of Florence from the Effizi Gallery"
which I need to sell for approximately $8000. If you or anyone you might know is in a position to acquire this work, please have them get in touch. The work was completed in 2001 and, as far as I know, is a totally unique vista of Florence. At least I have never seen anything like it. My wife Angela loves this painting which hangs in our dining room, but not it seems it must find another home.