Body Parts, I

These past few weeks have just flown by! I spent a number of days up in Monterey. I’ve been learning Mah Jongg (American style), playing cards, running around, taking my painting classes, and just enjoying life. I also ignore the news as much as possible.

I decided to get more serious about portraits, have done a few which I am still working on, as well as decided to go into the body parts business. It’s one thing to get all the bits and pieces to work together well in the face, but I have decided to do some studies of the eyes, nose, and mouths of different people – from photos – just to have a focus on the details of each body part.

Or, I guess, face part.

I also decided to use a new-to-me product, Arches “Huile” paper – 140# cotton rag paper treated to take direct painting of oil paints without the need to gesso its surface. The texture of the paper is not like canvas, but it is tactile in its own way, and I rather enjoyed it.

To begin . . . I decided to save the hardest part for last and begin with what I thought would be fairly straightforward. First, lips and a few teeth, then the nose, and finally the eyes.

This study is from a photo of a kid just getting his adult teeth. Snaggle-toothed and chapped lips, so it was a pretty realistic photo. As this was my first painting on the Arches “Huile” I dipped my toe – well, my brush – in a bit gingerly, getting a sense of paint on paper. My brush was really small, a flat synthetic.

This is the nose of the same child, done separately on a different part of the paper. My brushwork became a bit more loose and I played a bit more with mixing colors not just on the palette, but on the paper as well for blending.

Finally, the eyes of an adult woman. I wanted something with a bit of drama, such as catch lights and strong eyebrows and lashes against a pale skin. Doing the eyes was a a bit of a slog, but in the end it seems to have worked out. Eyes have a lot of details whereas the lips and the nose had were more about color and shadow rather than itsy bitsy parts.

When I began the painting, I toned the paper for all studies with a thin layer of burnt umber, washed onto the paper with soy solvent. Once that was dried, I began each part separately by sketching it in with a small, flat brush and darker burnt umber. Once that was in place, I worked at pre-mixing the colors I anticipated I might use to match both value and color of the part I was painting. This is not my usual routine, so it was also a challenge.

After I did the mouth, I did the nose, followed by the eyes. Each time I used the same steps of outlining each part with the darker burnt umber. As many of my colors were already mixed on the palette, I added some new ones and modified the existing ones. This was rather fun and I did a bit of guessing about modifying colors, but it worked out pretty well.

My palette was restricted to titanium white, cadmium lemon, yellow ochre, cadmium red light, alizarin crimson, magenta, cerulean blue, ultramarine blue, burnt umber, and ivory black. The Arches “Huile” paper is rather nice, a bit pricey, but has a nice tooth. Other oil / acrylic papers I have used have smoother textures. Both are pleasant under the brush.

My goal is to learn to finally paint portraits with oils. It means practice and observation. I plan on continuing with this current palette and have set aside the above colors in a designated, dedicated “portrait baggy” to keep all the colors easily accessible.