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Deliberation: Step 2

Sometimes a minor mistake or setback can lead to a major breakthrough.

From the beginning, this painting was going to be all about the figure. The background would be almost inconsequential, aside from adding special context and justifying the lighting, so I planned to put an unprecedented amount of work into the subtleties of the facial features and flesh tones. I wanted to work on refining the two-stage glazing method I have been experimenting with, where a complete monochromatic under-painting is then gradually worked over with the other flesh tones. Usually, I would have tried to complete the area in one sitting, blending the flesh-tones into the still wet under-painting. This time though, as I was working on the burnt umber and ivory black under-painting, I discovered some problems with my drawing, and ended up spending the entire day carefully refining the likeness of the face. By the time I was happy with it, the paint was already tacking up. This first image is of the under-painting as I left it.

Deliberation: Step 2 - The under-painting

At this point the painting was set aside while I worked on Monna Vanna and prepared for the QCFA Arts Cruise. While on the cruise, I received the final go-ahead on a commission for BB&T which I began work on as soon as I returned home. So this canvas sat around in my studio in this state for more than 2 months before I got back to it. Needless to say, by that time the under-painting was quite dry.

I wasn’t quite sure how I would proceed. I considered an opaque over-painting which would have completely covered the likeness I had worked so carefully on, and I even though about removing the under-painting and starting over. At the last minute, I decided to try a variation of a technique I used to get some of the atmospheric effects in First Heat. I painted a very thin glaze layer of burnt umber in oil over the entire under-painting, and painted the flesh tones into that. I couldn’t believe how well it worked. The paint was not only easier to control, but the polished under-painting allowed me to focus more on the flesh-tones. Even more to my delight, the transparency of the over-painting gave the skin a wonderful luminosity I hadn’t been able to achieve before.

I experimented with a similar technique while painting the hair, but with rather poor results. This second image shows the finished face, and hair that has been newly re-painted.

Deliberation: Step 2 - The finished face

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 12th, 2008 at 1:13 pm and is filed under Deliberation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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About Bryan Larsen ~

Bryan Larsen

"I was born on February 12, 1975, and have been drawing as long as I can remember. By the time I was in high school, I knew I wanted to be an artist, although at the time I didn't have a clear idea of how exactly I would use my talents to make a living.

"As I continued studying art, I began to suspect that fine visual art was dead. No one seemed interested in teaching students how to draw well, or paint well. More often than not, my own skills exceeded those of my instructors.

"The only field left that seemed to require good drawing, painting, and compositional skills was illustration, and therefore I began studying illustration at Utah State University in Logan, Utah. I became even more convinced that I had made the right decision in staying away from fine art as I endured course after course of required "drawing" and "painting" classes in which instructors required me to draw with "less focus", or use ridiculous materials such as shellac, glue, sand, salt, etc.

"My second year at Utah State, I met Damon Denys. In discussing Art with him I realized that there were other people who believed that technique and subject matter were indispensable components of any work of art. I then decided that I would work to develop my own painting skills with the purpose of creating artwork that I considered worthy of being called Fine Art.

"Since that time, I have studied on my own: Drawing from live models to learn the human form, studying proper painting techniques from any source I could find ample reason to trust, and developing a philosophy of Art based on reason, and life on earth.

"My goal is to portray the heroic and romantic in human nature and human achievement in a realistic style and a modern setting. I place particular emphasis on composition, technique, realistic detail, proper craftsmanship and consistency of style."