Two week painting - Part Two

 

Finished Portrait - Weeks 19 & 20

Welp! It was a week! Firstly, gotta say I loved these two lessons by Sabra (Awlad Issa). Highly accessible, great information, and she pays attention to the viewer (ie letting us know when we need to pay attention or when we can turn on double speed). And even though my final portrait might not seem like I learned anything (spoiler alert), I really did!

Okay. First kick at the can, adding colour to my greyscale portrait. I also decided that I needed to work on the background hence the gesso and green painters tape. I thought I added too much colour aka chroma and that's where the descent into (white) hell began. Ironically, looking at it now it was spot on. A cautionary tale. STEP AWAY FROM THE PAINTING!  And let time be your best teacher. (lesson #1)

First layer of chroma added

Background fixed (for now) and tried to tone done the previously thought "too MUCH" chroma and effectively made him a vampire. Ruh roh! I sheepishly posted in our LFI FB group and was assured by Sabra that I could pull it back. My biggest mistake was adding white WITHOUT adding gel medium

 (lesson #2) and it would continue to haunt me to the end of the painting. All. Week. Long. Turns out you need a lot... A LOT... of glazing to undo too much white. So much in fact, I never go there. Should've bought some rubbing alcohol and 'erased' that white layer. Didn't. But shoulda.

Slowly getting him back to normal looking all the while dicking around with the background. I learned that you need VERY little pigment mixed with gel medium to glaze (lesson #3) and to let the layer DRY before applying the next (lesson #4). Because this is acrylic it really doesn't take that long AND it gives me an opportunity to STEP BACK FROM THE PAINTING (lesson#1 AND #5) and one I really, really, REALLY need to tattoo on my forehead (better yet set timers!)

And the final finished portrait:

He still needs colour added back but frankly? I'm tired of looking at him. And unless I decide I want to hang, sell or show, he's staying just this side of vampire. I do love how the background turned out. And his coat. I think they both complement his serene expression. But don't take my word for it, tell me what YOU think! In the comments! 👇↓↓↓🠟🠟🠟👇 (you need to click the title to go to the actual post for the comment form to show up...FYI)