The Artist

DEMONSTRAT­ION Zachary

MATERIALS

● Michael Harding Oils warm white; yellow ochre; cadmium red light; and ivory black. As explained, don’t worry if you don’t have these exact colours. Use any similar equivalent colours that match these as closely as possible. You can achieve a good black by mixing a dark brown (umber, sienna, etc.) with a dark blue (ultramarin­e, etc.). For ease and consistenc­y, I shall use the words ‘white’, ‘ochre’, ‘red’, and ‘black’ when describing the different colour mixes in this painting.

Support Daler-Rowney canvas paper,

● 193/4x153/4in (50x40cm).

Brushes Rosemary & Co hog filbert

● brushes, sizes 2, 4, 6, 8 and 12.

Jackson’s odourless solvent.

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STAGE TWO ▼

Next, I drew in the portrait, using a thinneddow­n red/black mixture and a smaller size 4 filbert brush. I started by dividing the head

STAGE ONE ◀

I began by getting rid of the white of the canvas by applying a wash of black and a little paint thinner with a size 12 hog brush. I did this, partly to get rid of the intimidati­ng white of the canvas, but also as it offered me a good middle-value grey to work on, thus both light and dark brushstrok­es would show up well against it. I like to see some of the white parts of the canvas remain as I think it enhances the painting as a painted sketch. Once applied, I lightly wiped away some of the excess greasy, wet oil so that subsequent brushstrok­es would stick on top and wouldn’t mix in with the black into two parts (the triangle of the lower jaw and the square top of the head). I then began placing in the angles of the head, constantly checking these against the photo. I kept all my brushstrok­es light and scratchy in texture and consistenc­y.

Once I’d establishe­d the structure of the face, I started finding and mapping out the main facial features. I started by painting the eye area, not so much the eye itself, but the darker areas that the eye inhabits – the eye socket. I kept the paint consistenc­y light, scumbled and fuzzy at this stage, rather than grappling for any type of detail.

I continued down the nose, mouth and lines of the beard towards the ear. I took small steps instead of jumping from one facial feature to the other. I finally establishe­d the shadow lines on the head, running behind the beard, ear and head using more black. I then used marks to show where the hair line was and where the hair met the black background, allowing it to melt away

STAGE THREE ▲

Now came the blocking-in stage. I began by asking myself where the darkest dark was on the face. Observing this was the eye and the shadows around it, the nostril, mouth and neck, I establishe­d these with black and a little added red, using a size 6 filbert brush. The paint consistenc­y was quite light; not too much pigment on the brush, but definitely no paint thinner or medium was used unless the paint felt too think and heavy in which case a little oil, such as linseed, was needed to give the paint a little more ‘flow’ or movement