WEEKLY SKETCHES

As I promised in last weeks post, I have taken this sketch further. After finishing the drawing I stretch the paper on stretcher bars. My first step in painting is to do an underpainting with acrylic washes. This helps me quickly lay in my base colors. At this stage my goal is to just work out the basic color and value composition. As you can see the colors are a little muddy, I'm not try to get the finished color just a good base on which to build. I use glazes to help harmonize the color. For example, on the hair I first laid down the orange color. I then used the blue from the shirt plus the green from the back ground to glaze some of the darker areas. You can also see where I used the background color in the shadow areas of the shirt. This technique is great for harmonizing colors. Next I will start refining and finishing with oil paint. I'll show you the results next week.