THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF A SERIES which will showcase how I approach portraits with different media and differing techniques. In this first one, I will be showing how I paint a portrait in oil, using only four colours, and I’ll be using the inside-out technique.
Every artist has a particular way in which they approach portraits and during these monthly series you will be able to tap into my approach – and find out why I use each one.
I’ll be starting with my materials, which are so essential. Being able to select the right materials for the job makes it so much easier and more straightforward.
MATERIALS
For this particular project, I’ll be painting in oils. The palette I’ll be using is called the Zorn Palette,Anders Zorn: in one of his self-portraits with a model behind him, he could be seen holding a palette with only four colours. I believe you can paint the most convincing portrait of any skin type with this particular palette. It really is just a basic primary colour palette where the yellow is Yellow Ochre, the red is Cadmium Red and whenever you think of primary blue it’s Ivory Black. Once you understand this, you can mix all the colours you want from these three ‘false primaries’ along with Titanium White. You’ll enjoy it because it forces you to work with what you’ve got – limited resources – which then produces a very harmonious, strong piece.
