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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.
Back to The Art of Portrait Painting
PALETTES FOR BACKGROUNDS
FOR PLAIN AND CLOSE BACKGROUNDS
White Black
Venetian Red Indian Red Vermilion Naples Yellow
Burnt Sienna
Yellow Ochre Brown Ochre Prussian Blue Antwerp Blue Burnt Umber Raw Umber
It will be understood, from what we have already said on the subject of palettes, that it is not necessary to place all the colours on the palette at the same time, but such a selection should be made as will suit the proposed background.
OCCASIONAL TINTS
PEARL.--White, Black, and Vermilion ; or, if required stronger, substitute
Indian Red for Vermilion. GREY.-Black and White, employed to lighten parts that are too dark, or to
reduce those that are too warm. YELLOW.-Brown Ochre and White OLIVE.-Terre Verte, Umber, and Naples Yellow DARK.-Black and Burnt Sienna STONE.-Black, White, and Umber
Black, White, Umber, and Yellow Umber and Yellow
Numerous other tints, varying according to the proportions of the warm or cold colours, and which work admirably when broken by others, are composed of:
Black, White, and Burnt Sienna Antwerp Blue, Venetian Red, and White Terre Verte, Indian Red, and White
LANDSCAPE OR OPEN BACKGROUND
This background may be a landscape, a passage of garden scenery, or any composition, either entirely open or partially closed by foliage.
A few landscape tints, which may serve ordinary purposes we suggest to the student:
FOR SKIES AND CLOUDS
Yellow Ochre and White Vermilion, Yellow Ochre, and White Madder Lake, Yellow Ochre, and White French Blue, Raw Umber, and White French Blue, Vermilion, and White
Where it is intended that the sky shall be very dark, a little Black will reduce the cold tints to any degree.
FOR DISTANCES
Should it be desirable to express a remote distance in the picture, it may be done with the cloud tints broken with the following, with which we approach the foreground:
White, French Blue, and Light Red White, Terre Verte, and Light Red White, Terre Verte, and Prussian Blue
These tints may be met and broken by others, to which Madder Lake, Brown Ochre, Venetian Red, Raw Umber, and other strong foreground colours should contribute.
Any foliage constituting a part of an open background should not be painted with a Raw Green, but the hue must be mellowed with either Lake, Burnt Umber, or some warm colour.
About John Paynemore about John 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.
