My Painting Process, Part Two

This is a continuation of Part One on how I create an oil painting.

So, I make a palette using wax paper on mounted on a clipboard, and I started a new sheet for this next part.

Of course, I used Grumbacher Titanium White. I used M.Graham oil paints like Yellow Ochre, Chromium Oxide Green, Transparent Red Iron Oxide, Ultramarine Blue, Anthraquinone Red, and Burnt Umber. I tried some Williamsburg Naples Yellow Italian, too.

M.Graham’s Anthraquinone Red is there version of Permanent Alizarin Crimson. Alizarin Crimson is fugitive, meaning, it will fade after several years. Athraqinone Red is rated excellent in lightfastness. So, It will maintain its color for a hundred years.

I decided to experiment with my color mixtures on a canvas board. I wanted to do this before I committed them to my painting.

I started with the color of her coat using Chromium Oxide Green.

The swatch to the left was made with Titanium White and Chromium Oxide Green. The middle swatch has less Titanium White, and the last swatch had burnt umber mixed in.

I wanted to match the color of her shirt next.

Both swatches used Transparent Red Iron Oxide. The one on the left used Titanium White, and the other used Naples Yellow Italian. They were vritually the same. Though, the Naples Yellow Italian has Titanium White in it. I think it warmed the mixture slightly.

I moved on to flesh tones after that.

I was taught to make a caucasian flesh tone by mixing Yellow Ochre and Alizarin Crimson. So, I used my Anthraquinone Red to get a terra cotta color. After, I added Titanium White to get the correct hue. I made six swatches until I came up with both light and dark colors.

Lastly, I mixed black and some grays.

I mixed Ultramarine Blue with Transparent Red Iron Oxide. Normally, I would use Burnt Umber or Burnt Sienna with the Ultramarine Blue, but I wanted to try it. After, I mixed some Titanium White into my black.

I mix my dark colors to get a richer black. Ivory Black or Mars Black, for example, looks flat to me. I use more Ultramarine Blue than Transparent Red Iron Oxide to make it lean towards a cooler, more blue black.

Then, I started to put paint on the canvas.

The goal of the first layer is just to cover the canvas. I will worry about getting the colors correct later.

I painted the boat a light gray color. The coat was painted green, and her shirt is a pale orange color. Her pants were colored black, and I made her pants slimmer than I originally sketched.