Art by Marshall

Introduction

Firstly, this painting was very much an experiment for me so, I would title this more of a "process" than a tutorial, a look into what making this artwork consisted of. Failing is a massive part of my learning process 😂 Below is the image this painting was based on, you can click on it to be taken to the Public Domain Archive where it is hosted:

I chose to find a reference from the PDA because it's a really cool place to find older references and the purpose of my painting today was to try and do a realistic portrait in a classical style. By classical style I mean that today (I'm writing this before I start painting) I wanted to try and mimic the Flemish painter's approach.

The woman in this photo's dignified pose and beautiful profile made her the perfect subject.

Canvas Preparation

The canvas I am painting on today is a 12" by 16" Monte Marte canvas board. I'm sure my fellow Australians are familiar with the brand, it is very affordable and readily available where I live at most dollar stores and the like.

Without a few extra steps to prepare these boards they can be fine to paint on with acrylics but with oils in my experience the paint sinks right in, resulting in a very dull painting. This is an experiment in a way because I'm still testing different methods of preparing canvas but I'm very happy with the result this time.

To prepare my canvas for this painting I needed:

• Chromacryl Gesso
• A resin paint scraper
• The finest grit sandpaper block I could find.
• A face mask.

I prepped it a few days before I started painting but next time I will try to remember to document that process, however it's quite simple and there is a lot of good video tutorials online. You will find that the preferred method for preparing canvas varies between artists so it's a good idea to experiment. For transforming a cheap canvas into a smooth surface this has been the best method I've tried yet.

Firstly, I placed 2 pieces of blue tack onto the back of my canvas board, this kept it in place as I scraped gesso across the surface. Then, with a pallete knife, I scooped a generous amount of gesso onto the board. After that, I scraped the gesso across the surface from top to bottom and side to side, doing my best to cover the edges without missing any spots.

After a few hours I applied another coat and once it was dry I put on a face mask and lightly sanded the surface. Inhaling acrylic dust is absolutely terrible for your lungs and nose.

Image Transfer

Something I didn't do for many, many years was tracing. Artists who've grown up on the internet will know that tracing has been a very taboo subject for a long time in online art spaces. I think I understand why, young artists are very protective of their work, especially during the height of the DeviantArt days and that eventually manifested into a paranoia about tracing anything, even photos to aid in your art. However, art history will teach you that using methods to transfer a scene from life to a drawing surface is nothing new.

All that is to say, for an assortment of reasons I didn't really want the added challenge of doing a perfect one to one drawing for this painting so I digitally traced the photo.

Underpainting