Painting Process: Step 5 - Refining

In this step I really got down to business. As I'm painting in stages, I'm working wet paint on dry paint. This is my preferred method as most colours, particularly 'titanium white', dry darker. This means that the entire painting looks murkier and less vibrant, so I noted any regions which need more contrast and began highlighting.

During this stage, I also began to paint some finer details, like the beard, the eyes and the lips. I enjoy refining a painting; slowly chipping away at it and adding more and more details and colour. Bridging tones and hues between shadows and highlights were also focused on. The turning points where a plane changes depth tend to be either cooler or warmer than the colours around that point. Examples of this can be seen on the cheek where the warm ochre meets the mauve, which is cooler and paler.



Again I spent two hours working on this step. As I did not want to divert the attention from the focal points (the eyes, nose and mouth), I deliberately blocked in a very loose background; mixing dark mauves and greens to form abstract shapes. The background colours are quite cool in contrast to the face, helping it lift off the canvas. Even still, I wasn't quite happy with the background. I may change the background the next time I tweak the painting. When I paint, I'm constantly gauging whether the tones, hues and contrast are balanced.

In my next post I will continue tightening the painting ever further.