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The art of portrait painting in oil colours
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The art of portrait painting
in oil colours
This informative book on portrait painting has been preserved for generations and fully deserves to to be available to all portrait artists online. While the art of portraiture has moved on, much of what was written is still valid and relevant to the modern day portrait painter.
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REFLEXES
The term ' reflex' signifies a subdued light reflected into a shade by some proximate object; hence a reflex can only appear in shaded or low-toned passages, the depth of shade being superseded by a reflection.
The colour of passages lighted by reflexes depends entirely upon the reflecting objects ; a white medium reflects only light; but coloured media, especially those of warm tint, convey both light and colour, an effect which very extensively conduces to harmony of tone.
Reflexes are necessarily always some degrees below the general breadth of the lights, but they may be of any hue, inasmuch as the reflecting medium may be of any colour. If the reflected passage be simple, it may be at once embodied with the shade of glazing ; but if the parts be complicated and involve much drawing and modelling, the latter, if the material admits of it, had better be carefully executed in the general shade tint, and the colour either blended in while the picture is wet, or worked over when it is dry, as the feeling of the passage may suggest.
About John Payne
I've been a professional portrait artist for the last 12 years but have been painting for a lot longer . I started out by painting nothing but seascapes and still do the odd one from time to time , I then moved onto landscapes and wildlife paintings before I finally decided to concentrate on portraits.
I get commissioned to paint a lot of pets , mainly dogs - but I also get to paint a fair amount of portraits of people.
more about John John Payne