Anatomy of the Human Head - Day Two

Sampling of Instructor Demo

It was Day Two of the Dan Thompson workshop at the North River Arts Society and we began the day with a new model, a delightful young college student (a musician) with a dark complexion and long dreadlocks tied back.  As we did for Day One, we started with a grisaille to establish the blueprint for the painting.   Our workshop instructor, Dan Thompson told us that we would quickly move to the color on Day Two, unlike the first day in which we worked exclusively in monotone.   It took me longer than it probably should have on this day to get the monotone underlay done.    Dan assured me that it was worth the extra time to get the drawing right.   I liked that a lot because I do not like to be rushed!

Day Two Model

The strategy for applying color was basic.    Select the color element that was the easiest to see.   In other words, which part of the scene do I have complete confidence that I not only can identify the color, but that I know how to match, mix and apply it.    Once this initial accurate judgment is made and on the canvas, the next color - theoretically - can more easily be compared (brighter, lighter, cooler, darker...) to the first stroke.  Dan demonstrated this method as he developed his painting of our model and what at first looked like a rough rudimentary scramble of color dots resulted in an amazing likeness of our model.

My painting was a different story.  Painting humans is hard but fascinating and my excuses are numerous ....   the canvas was so big....I'm using different tube colors than I'm used to.... and walnut oil as a medium...  They say struggling brings growth...

Here is the portrait from day two...