The-Oil-Alternative

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The-Oil-Alternative 

My approach for creating oil portraits shares several similarities with my watercolor work; for example, I use a similar palette for both-yellow ochre, cerulean blue and alizarin crimson (substituted for rose madder), to which I may add cadmium red and ivory black; However, there are four important differences: In oil, I deal more with shapes than lines,I Work dark's to light, my color applications are opaque rather than transparent and I don't use the progression of three key techniques that I use for Watercolor.

I work on toned canvas-usually raw umber thinned with turpentine which provides a solid neutral tone and I start each portrait by doing a drawing with ivory black. 

As with my Watercolors, I start adding Color in the face, which I block with four values. I start by mixing my shadow color, then take a portion of this mixture and lighten it with white to create my halftone. Next I lighten a portion of the halftone mixture to produce my lights. Finally, I adjust a portion of in light mixture to produce my highlights. My brushes are all bristle filberts and I usually start the head using a different No. 6 for each tone. This keep the color clean and allows me to work the tones together.

Master-Realism-1

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Master-Realism-1

Whether you work in watercolor or oil, here bow to give your portraits rich, lifelike fleshtones.

By Paul W. McCormack

I’ve always taken my artistic inspirations from the expressions of the human form-the ever changing countenance of a friend’s face in conversation, the blank stare of a stranger on a subway, or the poetic gesture of a stance. Although I work in both watercolor and oil (see “The Oil Alternative”),

I began my career nearly 35 years ago by painting the figure in watercolor, a medium that lends itself beautifully to recreating the translucent quality of flesh. By working transparently and using three basic techniques-wet-into wet, glazing and drybrush-I’ve developed a method that gives my portraits a look unlike conventional watercolors. This approach can be very time-consuming: I often spend 80 hours or more painting a simple head and shoulders. But the effort is worth it. The results of this process can prove” quite sublime. Here’s how it works.