Journal of My Oil Painting Techniques

Britt came today for me to continue with this nude art painting of her.

Since I pretty much have everything laid in with this piece, it is now all about rendering, polishing, and detailing things. It is the most slowest and time-consuming of the process but also the least difficult as everything have been figured out already and all there is left to do is just tightening things up.

I worked on defining the hands and feet some more, adding more details and forms. I also indicated the positions of the tattoos on her feet, but have not started defining them yet. I am planning to really define the tattoos clearly as well.

I also worked on the hands, especially her right hand. I did not detail it out but just indicated the general formations of it for now.

I added some more details on her face and modeled the forms of her cheek area. I extended the corner of her mouth because it was a bit short before. I modeled the forms of the hair as well. There are a lot more work to be done with her head and the face. I am planning on making this piece as tight and realistic as possible if the time allows me.

Foremost challenge of this nude art painting is working through the inconsistent lighting situation. My studio does not have acces to the natural northern light so the lighting changes a lot as I work. I still have not quite figured out how to best work under such situations but I am doing my best to make good judgements on whether to change the painting as the lighting changes, or keep things the way they are. Also Britt looking slightly different each time, her flesh tones, hair, etc., has been a bit of a challenge as well.

The outside edges looks a bit cut out to me as of now, and it will probably be the first thing I will work on on the next session. Edges usually takes a long time to define and bit tedious as well, but they can make a huge difference to the nude art painting.

The focus of this piece should definitely be the face and I will spend most of my time on that. I always find myself working mostly on the face, especially the eyes. There are too many things going on in there that draws my attention and really motivates me to capture as much as I can see.

Nude art is definitely my favorite subject to paint. I don’t think there is anything as beautiful and complex as the human figure, its unusual shapes, curves, textures, details all happening throughout the body.

Michelle came back today and I continued with this fine art nude painting by introducing the colors to the body.

CLICK ON IMAGE FOR LARGER VIEW

I used rather thin layers of paint to avoid unwanted textures and keep the surface quality consistent. But I did not glaze transparent layers but still kept the paints opaque. I used mostly the filbert number-two brush, using the edges of it to define more detailed or crisp areas. I always do my best to avoid using very small brushes for the details but use the edges of larger brushes instead, as they seem to produce more sculptural effect.

I forced myself to see as many colors as possible and exaggerated the colors I noticed. When I saw a redness I made it more red on my painting, when I saw the blues, I exaggerated it and made it even more blue in my painting. I find that practicing this way keeps you from producing dull colored piece. When you step back, things will not look exaggerated but actually just about right, as all those intense colors you have exaggerated would start to blend together as you view them at a distance.

Many times I find that it is not really about SEEING the colors but more about FEELING them. In the event where I am not so sure if a certain color is actually there, I just go ahead and put it down on my painting anyways, and always try to put down as many colors I notice even if I am not sure of it.

On Michelle’s body, I noticed a lot of burnt sienna tones. Which is made up of yellow ochres and reds, as well as dark browns. She is caucasian but has a very dark tanned skin. Even though her skin can seem simply brown, I tried my best to see as many colorful hues as possible existing within the body.

I basically did the same to other areas, the door in the background, the fabric she is sitting on, etc. Always forcing myself to see as many colors as I can for this fine art nude painting.