Portrait of a woman

Portrait of a woman
Acrylic on MDF board
30 x 23cm (12 x 9 inch)

Developing from the limited palette exploring painting darker skin tones was the next step. For this exercise I moved away from the Zorn palette and looked at the hues within the photograph I was working from. This will make a huge difference to how the colours are perceived on the canvas. I used richer warmer pigments and burnt sienna as a coloured ground which is more related to the colour underneath the surface of the skin tone. By adding a few drops of Golden’s Flow Release the paint is spread more evenly on the prepared MDF. The Flow Release disperses the surface tension giving it a more even tone.

Colours used:
•Burnt sienna (for the coloured ground)
•Titanium white
•Raw umber
•Cadmium yellow medium
•Yellow ochre
•Permanent alizarin crimson – Winsor & Newton Artists Acrylic
•Burnt sienna
•Raw sienna
•Burnt umber
•Zinc white

Once the coloured ground was applied I could draw on the rough sketch. The next part of the process involved under painting the shadow and darker skin tone areas and hair.

The transition between light and dark in a darker skin tone is much softer than in the lighter skin tones so this needed to be more blended and softened to remove the ‘transition line’ between the light and the dark. Glazing liquid is perfect for smudging in the edges for this purpose so the tones blend more evenly into one another

By blocking the dark’s first it gives me a feel for the shapes and forms within the portrait. It is important to keep all the edges soft so the darker edges smoke into the painting and lighter areas as it goes into the light. By leaving bits of the tonal ground shining through it adds interest to the eye when looking at the portrait.

Blocking in the background with a neutral colour at this stage will enable me to judge the colours of the face more closely. Allowing some of the burnt sienna to show through the neutral background will add further definition and depth to the portrait.

Going back to the portrait and glazing over areas will change the intensity. You can knock down the tone or increase the chroma accordingly adding a richness and contrast to the portrait. The greener glazed tones work well in the shadow areas and together with the crimson glazes on the skin and the hair it adds a rich warmth to the skin making it look alive. Using a palette knife increases the texture adding further depth to the portrait.