Juliano is finished 20080628

The monochrome of Juliano is now complete and drying in my studio. In six months time, I'll learn the art of varnishing!

Second and first painting of Juliano

I'm working hard to finish Juliano by the end of June. At this time, I have only applied a "second painting" layer to the forehead, eyes, nose, mouth, and both sides of the face. This week, I've been concentrating on "edges", and going back to "first painting" (direct pigment, no oil) in different places where second painting would not work. I softened the edges of the hair so they disappear into the background, making the foreground curls jump forward.

Couches and Second Painting

I picked up a new second painting expression this week: Laying a Couch. As I understand it, this means applying the tinted oil/spirits mix over the area of the painting you intend to cover on top of the first painting.

I tried this out on the area above the statue's right eyelid. I put down two couches, one for the brow in the light, and one for the brow's contained shadows. I painted over the light one first to the edges of the shadows and to the place where the brow meets the forehead. I did my best to keep the edges soft and to blend where appropriate. I still need to do the upper eyelid before I move over to the other eye. In the close up, you can compare the differences between the first painting of the sculptures left eye and the near complete second painting of the right eye (which is much smoother)...

I took a break from Juliano Saturday to open up the cottage. While there, I worked on the charcoal drawing of John and the silverpoint copy of Da Vinci's Lena.

Fat over Lean or from Lean to Fat

This week I redid the background to show a gradient from dark to light by one value (it doesn't show in the photo below though). Fernando used the painting for a school demo on the "second painting" process and begin working on a small area: the lower lid of the left eye.

Some important principles:

• We've been working from lean to fat. Lean at one extreme is pigment thinned with a solvent like mineral spirits. Fat at the other extreme is pure oil, no pigment. In the middle is the "meat of the sandwich" -- the pure pigment of first painting.
• We want "fat over lean" so that a foundation exists before applying the oil. Thin pigment painting over oil will crack and oil takes so long to dry.
• In second painting, you begin "thin" and work towards "fat". Thin means 1 part linseed oil, 2 parts mineral spirits. Then when you do another layer, you reduce the reduce the mineral spirits (equal parts)... And finally you mix 2 parts oil, 1 part spirits.
• The Stand oil (thicker than linseed) can be used for the shadows. It dries quicker.

The technique:

• Mix the medium in a cap (e.g., 6 drops to 12 drops)
• Put some on the pallete and tint it the value of the lightest value in the area selected for second painting.
• Apply it as a glaze over the area.
• The "second paint" the area with pure pigment, blending as necessary.
• Let it dry before going back.

Below: Juliano as completed first painting, ready for second painting.

Juliano: chin and neck tuck

Small spaces are harder in many ways than the larger ones. I recently reworked the chin and neck, and have continued building up the smaller areas of hair in the left, both in and out of the light.

More hair, less vegetable oil

I've been concentrating on the left side of the head, trying to take the hair up to the same level of "first painting" as the forehead. The construct of the hair also needed to be trimmed to make the shapes smaller on the left... Fernando noticed the open jar of vegetable oil I had on my stand. I had been using it to wipe brushes clean before switching to another value -- but this was putting the oil on the canvas! The vegetable oil should only be used when ending the session, and be rinsed out of the brushes with soap and water.



I'm also trying to construct my own neutral value scale, matching the Munsell example Juan posted on a pillar near my easel. His example matches true neutrality. It places pure black at 0 and pure white at 10. My own black paint (Ivory) appears somewhat bluish and all of my first attempts up to 5 were too blue (cool) and needed more brown.

Hair on the Head

This week, I started blocking out sections of the hair and loosely working the shapes, both in the shadows and the lights. I'm holding several brushes in my hand at once -- light/dark tones, wide and small -- so I can push forwards and backwards in colour and stroke as needed. Some spots are more finished than others. I've barely touched the far left side.

I've been told not to leave any hard edges that aren't necessary or final (especially between black and white extremes because they will be hard to soften during "second painting"). Another warning: not to "blend" during first painting (because it's a waste of time) and instead it's OK to leave the paint blotchy, as I did on the face and neck. When I started today the chin was too wide and not angled correctly; I've moved the points of the chin down to correct them but haven't finished setting the edges correctly. Next week.

The head is from one of 6 statues Michaelango made for the Tomb of Giuliano de' Medici. There are many references to this on the web.

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.

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.

First Painting > Correcting the eyes

I spent this week immersed in first painting, and trying to recapture the drawing lost during big form modelling. The cast's right eye was beginning to drift away from the centre. At first the best solution seemed to be to paint over the entire eye and then repaint it again rather than trying to move tiny shapes one at a time. However, after measuring against the other eye, the fix required was in the smaller shapes, beginning with the lower lid. I just had to rotate downward from the right corner of the eye to put it more on a slant and make the eyeball itself narrow. It's now in a better position relative to the left eye of the cast (or the right eye in the photograph).

Other things to work on: temperature correction. I haven't been mixing enough raw umber into the mix. The face is looking bluish. The neck is the right neutral value.... Here's the lesson to be learned. As a tint, ivory black is more powerful than raw umber. To keep a value neutral, there has to be more raw umber in it than black, otherwise the black dominates and gives the colour a cool temperature.

I also must work on the forms on the face and not sculpt before first putting in the planes of the form (see nose). I will remember that the chin itself has about 5 planes. These should be placed first...

Progress on Juliano

I have finished the "triangle" formed between the eyes, nose and mouth -- critical for creating a likeness of a face. The next step is to finalize the shape of the face. I'm filling in some of the background and darker values to create a "mask".