Oil painting - selfportrait - step by step - the last round

[Xaya]

Well, i´ve still busy because of school, nevertheless i can´t wait longer to start a new oil painting.

This thread will show the steps from start to finish.

I did some horrible mistakes at my last paintings.
- No really study of what i wanted to paint
- mixing my colours with brushes (everything got dirty)
-focusing on details too fast

so i have already a good image in my brain.. but just see what it is developing to be.

Ok

1. I used a preprimed canvaz, did one coat of gesso
after dry i tried something new.
Imprimatura! Which means to tone your white canvaz with a transparent
layer of a earth tone.

so this is the surface i will working on
i hope i finish this piece in about one week
i want to get something between realism and impressionism...



-xaya

[Xaya]

don´t you like my toned canvas?

ok i put some colours on it....

I like the colours but definitely go much darker....

U see i don´t work really clean and simple...
had some problems with proprotions but i think it works no.. more or less

i don´t really want to do a stupid sb
but something more so i add something... just be patient!





-xaya

[Steven]

a most promising start, I'm eager to see more.

Don't worry about you're chaotic start, I'm doing the same although I'm just doing b/w studies, which are far easier to do.

[Xaya]

thank you steven,

well i work with a b/w photo,

i used to do selfportraits in oil painting with help of a mirror but drifted into analytic kubismus,
which means i got also a simultanity of perspective.

I don´t will work strict from that photo,
the skin colors i watch from other photos or with the rehelp of a mirror.

Would be happy if i could stop at the moment, because i really like that unfinished stuff...

-xaya

[Xaya]

some more sweat, although it makes a lot of fun currently.

I think i have to widen the chin.
You have to see my palette board from the last season and
from this one... no messy ..what actually can seen at the colors,
no greyish..almost no.

Oh one question, i use a wooden plate for my color palette,
because i have done some paintings with it i can´t clean it really good...
it is near impossible...
do you overpaint your plate with house paint?
or what do you use for cleaning it?

thx

-xaya

[Dizon]

wow looking great so far!

[JERI]

I'd kiss Joan Rivers to have your skills with oil paints.

[JokingClown]

eww.

[look]

It looks really nice. I think her mouth is a bit inward, so is the chin. Think you can fix that by casting a bit more lighting on the chin to the right side (of the canvas). Then again, if this is what the photo looks like, ignore what I just said.

As for the pallete, I used a wooden pallete too. Basically you just use the pallete knife to scrub the paint off after you finish each time, so they don't dry up and stuck a pile. Then you clean it with a piece of clothes and turpentine. After awhile, the pallete would look pretty colorful, but since it's only a thin layer of dried oil paints (assuming its thin layer if you did a good job scrubbing it), you dont have to worry about getting hte color dirty when you use it.

Although another method is to apply gesso over it when you first got it and let it dry. Then after you use it each time, scrub off excessive paint, clean with turpentine, then apply another layer of gesso. I never tried this method, although that's the method the professor told students to use in painting class.

[Xaya]

hey, thank you for feedback!

@patdzon: thank you a lot, the last image is quite different in color from the original, damn cam!

@JERI: hihi! thank you too, i don´t think i have a great skill in oil painting,
just a huge amount of patience and nerves!

@JokingClown:

@look: really thank you, i highlighted the chin more looks better now,
well, about the wooden palette: i am good in forgetting about necessarities so my colour dried on the palette last time
and there is no really simple way to put it away...
i think you mean Gesso not Getso, don´t you?
Didn´t found something about Getso!

No updates today, my batteries of my digicam are empty so you have to wait til tomorrow...

cheers!

-xaya

[Zesty]

check PM

[Xaya]

oh before i forget....

i am a him not a her... i am damn male!

ok..

the painting loses his fun.. i am now at the "noticing the mistakes and not really knowing how to improve but how do not improve it -stage"

nevertheless the image:



I think i will only show the eyes minimally... just enough to see that there a two eyes in the face...

I have to clean my brushes better and more often... colors getting dirty.
I think i keep the loose-style more and not smooth all areas....

-xaya

[Xaya]

Some new lights turned on above my head!

Its about skin-colour... i watched some other portraits from pro. artists,
and noticed that they have a very simple skin-colour
so simply build colors and less colours are the way to go...

i think it looks better know.... the colours itself aren´t 100% true... but more than less...

[Alday.J]

Yeap, a wonderfull step-by-step ! It's always fun to see artist's process ! And it's a good painting (self-portrait ?). 'Love it !