Some of my best paintings take the least amount of time. If a painting takes too long, I get the feeling that I’m over-working it and the colours become muddy. Often, I gesso over the painting and start again from scratch. One or two paintings have taken me years to complete (I procrastinate a lot and then get bored of them).

Before I started this painting, titled Jennie No. 2 Portrait, I came up with these objectives:

1. Prepare the canvas with oil to use as a background,

2. Paint quickly in alla prima (wet-on-wet paint),

3. Use as few layers as possible, and

4. Keep detail to focal points.

I completed a study painting in oil on paper (10 x 8 inches) in one painting session, and I was happy with the style, so I began a much larger version (see photo of the study below).

Canvas Prep

Lately, I’ve been building my own canvases from scratch. I buy the stretcher bars and raw canvas from the local university, Vancouver Island University. The Nanaimo campus bookstore has a surprising selection of art supplies due to their visual arts program.

I’ve been wanting to paint on larger canvases for a while now, so I built a 20 x 18-inch canvas and added three layers of gesso. I scraped each layer down with a palette knife for a smoother surface. Once the gesso dried completely, I mixed a layer of Flaked White Replacement oil paint with other colours and Gamblin’s Solvent Free Gel as a medium. I used the Flaked White Replacement because I have a bunch of it, and I never use it for anything else. The Solvent Free Gel quickened the drying time (somewhat) and sealed the surface. My idea was that instead of painting a background around the head of the portrait, I would use this pre-made layer as a background and cut into it from the head in the foreground.

Alla Prima Painting

I love painting wet-on-wet, but I find it challenging. I tend to over-work paintings and muddy the pigments. Evoking the image with as few brush strokes as possible could produce more accurate values quickly. Using the same colour palette as my last painting (see blog post), I had a plan to alternate from warm colours to cold (orange to blue). I looked for bold colours as I mixed them. Even though the painting is larger than my others, it took me only three painting sessions to complete.

Layering

Normally, I build up layer by layer, allowing for drying time in between, but since I was painting alla prima, and using slow-drying linseed oil as a medium, drying would take a very long time. As well, layering over too much could combine too many pigments and muddy the colours. I had to find a balance between making strong brush strokes, but thoughtfully planning each stroke. The good thing about painting so loose is that it can be easy to cover over mistakes.

Focal Point Detail

My original plan was to keep detail to focal points, and by detail, I mean smaller brush strokes (often palette knife work), contrasting values (starker darks and lights), and stronger colour hues. But when I got the feeling that the painting was finished, I got too excited and forgot all about where my focal points were. Often near the end of a painting, I use quick dashes of paint and I purposely mess up any strong lines or boring areas. I find this part fun and those final strokes are the most interesting part of the painting. Unfortunately, this causes me to forget where I planned to put detail, but I think the painting ends up better because of the spontaneity.

If you’re interested in purchasing this painting or wish to commission your own custom original fine art oil portrait, please feel free to shoot me a message at the button below or visit my Commission page for more information.