Journal of My Oil Painting Techniques

Today I did this oil portrait sketch of my friend Meg. Meg has a very light skin complexion with a light blonde hair, so it resulted in a high key toned piece. I have used the direct painting approach, the Alla Prima method.


I first layed in the general placement and the shape of the head using a large filbert brush , with burnt umber paint, also giving some indication where the eyes, nose and mouth is going to be.

I defined the lay-in some more and clarified the shapes and the forms. But i still kept thing rough and moved along fast. I was not too concerned with the accuracies or likenesses at this point but tried to establish the general composition and the placement of the portrait.  I used only the lrge filbert brush here to quickly block in the large shaped and tones.

Then I mixed up  an averaged out general flesh tone with the large brush and began block in in the flesh. I kept the paint thick to have a good flow, and be able to continue working wet on wet with thick paint, which would give a nice texture and sculptural quality.

Then I began inserting the feataures. I also worked more on the formation of the head, the halftones and played around with the darks and lights of the values , as well as accents. I continued thinking three-dimensionally as if I am actually modelling a sculpture. I still kept the paint thick.

I continued defining and adding more details, refining the features and its shapes. I continued to keep the paint thick, even in the shadow areas. Many painters tend to keep the shadow/transparent areas thin trying to give it a transparent effect,while using thicker paint for light side areas to make it come forward, but it is important to always keep the paint equal thickness all over and achieve the transparent look by using the right colors/saturaion,instead of trying to achieve the think effect by painting thin. One must paint the thin, not paint it thin to achive shadow/transparent effects.

I started to indicate the hair more

I added more definition, tone, and colors to the hair. I also have added some background tone to have the head pop out more. I experimented and kept the hait pretty abstract instead of making it realistic. I thought it would contrast well with the face.

I touched up the face so it is more smooth and polished, blended a lot of areas and defined the features more to tighten things up. Since this oil portrait painting was done in a single sitting of about 3 hours, It achieves the fresh spontaneous feel. It was easier to blend as the paint were always wet.

This is my first oil painting techniques journal post. This is a portrait sketch of one of my friend. She came down for my Memorial Day Barbeque party today and was nice enough to sit for me for couple of hours. I enjoyed painting her distictive tomboyish features. I tried to do my best to capture her personality as well as the likeness.

I first mixed up a large portion of the light skin’flesh tone with a big filbert bristle brush. When I had a big glob of paint on the brush ,I dabbed it onto the surface trying to indicate the face and the overall placement of it.

I kept on dabbing on thick globs of paint, as if a sculptor would throw on piles of clay to start his sculpture. I did not worry about likenesses or accuracies at this point

Then i modelled the painting more to form more of a solid head, giving it understructure, then I started inserting the feature, the eys, nose, and the mouth on top of the understructure I have established.

I continued refining the features and the overall formation of the head, then I began placing the masses of the hair and the outlines of the head.

I continued refining ,polishing , and adding details