Back to Juliano

We had a series of lectures by Juan Martinez over the weekend on painting materials, the Munsell Colour System, and the French academic tradition (and where we fit in). I'll be posting the list of recommended materials later. Here though is the latest Juliano. I have been modelling the cheeks and the neck. Now the hair is standing out like a clown's wig. I'll be getting to that next.

Silverpoint Workshop Feb 11-14

I took a break from painting this week to take a workshop in Silverpoint at the Academy of Realist Art (with instructor Ryan Gauvin).

Silverpoint (or metalpoint) is an old method of drawing using a stick of silver sharpened to a point and held in a lead holder. A Renaissance technique, it was used as a drawing medium for studies. By the 17th century, its use became increasingly rare as graphite become more readily available.

Below is a sample from my first piece, a copy of a Raphael drawing. The intention was to follow build up the drawiing slowly, following the lines of the artist. Unlike graphite, you cannot erase the silverpoint markings (although apparently you can sand the surface down to make them disappear, but this harms the paper). Here is the process we followed:

1. Ryan prepared watercolour paper for us that had been coated several times with Golden Acrylic Gesso. It was sanded down to make a smooth finish. The idea is to prepare a surface that the silverpoint can scratch a line onto. This will work with gold too.


2. We traced a few lines of an existing drawing with Mylar tracing paper with a thin graphite pencil and then went over them again with a black marker so they would show up.


3. On a light table, I placed the treated paper over the tracing paper and re-traced the outline with a graphite pencil. You can use the silverpoint but if you're not careful, you can cut too deeply and not be able to erase later.


4. Back on the stool, I got to work using a series of long strokes to build up values and follow the direction of the lines (bottom left to top right for a right-handed person; bottom right to top left for a left-handed person).


5. I turned the board constantly to get the right angle. The lines have to be drawn in parallel. You also can't stop in the middle of a line and pick up later...


6. The last step, which I haven't done yet, is to tint the paper.... Normally, Ryan would tint the paper with acrylic before starting the drawing. But there are advantages of doing it later. If you go too dark with the silverpoint, then a tint after the fact will take some of the excess value away.

Continue Modelling the Face

This week, I concentrated on shaping the cheeks and chin, trying to lighten things up where required and keep the values neutral.