Oil Portrait: Painting Progress

I'd like to share my progress in an oil painting portrait.

To start my process, I draw a light sketch. Over that is the first layer of oil paint, emphasizing the dark values near the eye area and hair around the face.

In a portrait, my process always starts with the eyes. Once the eyes are established and look like the person, I can then use them as a unit of measure to work down to the nose then the mouth. 

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This shows the progression from dark to light color values in creating her hair. The paint shapes start as large chunky brushstrokes and proceed to smaller shapes of lighter colors. 

These images show richer color layering. Note the hair, eye and lip area has more color than the earlier images

Here is the finished painting.

Hope you enjoyed seeing a little of my process.

​Check out my web page for information on individual art instruction, for oil, pastel and charcoal/pencil.  

​Thanks for visiting!


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