THE STORY BEHIND THIS PAINTING by TOM BROWN

CLICK HERE for this auction. This is a 5x7 oil painting on a Masonite panel. Painting this was so much fun I just had to share the details here.

Sometimes I like to jump right into a painting like this with no preparation. No sketches, no study, no careful drawing. Just grab a brush and start.

     It’s risky and I don’t recommend it for most artists, especially when doing portraits. Working this way has the potential for things to go wrong very quickly. In fact my Portrait eBook shows a much safer way to get a perfect likeness and still have “artistic flair” in the painting. But I was feeling frisky and couldn’t wait.

     I scrubbed a quick wash of mid-tone onto the panel, wiped off some of the juiciness, then I started right in. I used a mix of burnt sienna with a touch of blue to sketch the big shapes shown in the first 3 photos here.

     Then I stated basic the colors of the hair and whiskers before beginning to add flesh tones. In my eBook I give detailed color recipes for the mixtures used in flesh tones in case you’re interested. I even include recipes for a variety of other complexions.  You’ll notice here that the nose and cheeks use different mixtures than the forehead for example.

     I wanted to maintain a bit of mystery in this portrait, and deliberately avoided adding detail in the shadow areas of the face like the eyes. That was my plan from the first stroke.

     With the face finished I moved on to his cap and shirt, finished the background, and presto it was done! And I’m very pleased with the results.

     If you’ve never tried working this way, give it a try. It’s loads of fun and you might surprise yourself.

     But if you’re a beginner or you aren’t very experienced at portraits, you might be interested in my eBook where I show a more careful approach that will produce more predictable results every time. Both approaches are very fun. And you might want to try both methods.

     Either way, I wish you a good day and HAPPY PAINTING.

CLICK HERE for details of my Portrait eBook.

     Questions? Email me: 

     tombrownstudio@cox.net