Many people look in museums and see a complete painting and want to know…”How was that done? What did the painting look like when it was being made?”
Will we attempt to answer that question for you here.
Let’s use a painting by John Singer Sargent as an example.
Please remember, this reconstruction is not done so you can re-create only this painting. This re-creation is made to help you understand the process of oil painting, period. The exact same process you see here would be used if Sargent were painting an apple.
I have seen many re-constructions that are done so you can paint that same picture. If you want to do that, I suggest painting a “paint by numbers set.”
Nobody ever can be 100% sure about how a painting was completed, but through study and experience one can get a good idea about how a painting was made.
The blank canvas would have been primed with white oil paint. This was done to convey a light feeling through the layers of paint that would follow.
It is always a good idea to start with a very light priming. This helps to add light to the painting during the painting process. The bright white ground will shine through the layers of paint that are put over it. Painting on a bright white ground also helps the painting age well.
So, in 100 years, your painting won’t turn as dark and sink into the canvas. So it helps preserve your painting long after you are gone (if you care about that sort of thing.)
The initial drawing was made on the canvas with either charcoal or directly with some dark lines of paint.
The drawing stage was more for placement than making a finished drawing. He would keep everything loose in case he wanted to make any changes. Perhaps the areas which would eventually be black or dark would be indicated as well. But at this stage, placement was first and foremost in his mind. Not color, not the girl’s face, not the exact shape of anything…but placement on the canvas.
He was not thinking about drawing in the sense of a finished work of art. Simply establishing a nice composition on the canvas was the important thing.
You can see this beginning looks almost like the drawing of a child.
That is fine, he was just building his foundation for what is to come next.
In using the word foundation, it probably will help you to think of a house and it’s foundation. When a house is being built, the foundation looks nothing like a completed house. The frame of the house goes on this foundation and it looks like a skeleton. The same happens with oil paintings.
When Sargent was satisfied with the composition it would be time to mass in (or lay-in) the painting.
The colors were mixed to the general overall tone of the masses such as the brown of the girl’s hair and the red of her sash and chain.
A general massing of color takes place in this stage. Details are not thought about yet. They will come later in the painting process.
Just like in building a house…you must put up a wall before you can put in a window. You have to put up the frame before you can put the siding or bricks on
A general flesh color was established, and perhaps two flesh colors for the main areas of light and shadow. These were laid in on the girl’s face. As you can see, not much attention to detail at all in this stage.
As Sargent said, features like the eyes and mouth should be “drawn in” at the end. Edges are kept soft on purpose — they are a detail as well.
The process of massing in the main areas of color is now revised.
To be continued…
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Just started to get familiarised with the process of oil painting.
Pl let me know about timings for drying of the first coat & the subsequent of painting.
thanking you
A.ramaswamy
how can I find the finishing of this painting or the next stages it is very frustrating to0 be left in midair!!!!
It helps to think of paint layers as just that, layers, not coats. A coat of paint is what goes on a wall or the side of a house
Drying time differs depending on many many factors. What paints were used in the underlayer, what mediums (if any) was used, what is the ground of the support (meaning, is the priming acrylic or oil based). All of this is covered in detail in our home study course.
I have seen this painting before and find it beautifully natural. Artistic styles are as many as there are artists. I prefer the ones like this one, that don’t add so many blues, grays and greens to the face and fleshtones. Some artists seem to over paint the human face. To me shadowing looks best subtle. But that doesn’t mean the other styles aren’t liked by others. Don’t you just love the creative versatility of painting and art. I especially love portraits with that little extra in them, like the cute fluffy dog. Thanks for sharing. sher
thank you, you solve my puzzle with simple and direct words , I was always ask my self how they can do this? and thank you for getting the 1 oilpainting.com back to its great aim ( HELPING DISPIRIT PEOPLE LIKE ME TO ACHIEVE THEIR DREAM AND KNOW HOW TO PAINT)
I have seen this example previously and printed out the stages as an initial method of portrait layout. I have not been able to get the fleshtones desired, I guess it is trial by error until i achieve the fleshtones I want to apply to the piece I am doing. Right now the fleshtrones are too light/bright. I am mixing until i find the hue
Hi i require few basic about painting, like can u help me giving the certain basic lessons about it.
I am happy to read the contents of this issue. Awaiting more instructions thanks
Thank you for your excellent advice. As a complete beginner I would like to ask what a drawing fixer is. My pencil ran into the white that I was painting yesterday so I had to keep adding white till it was ‘rubbed out’.
Hi, I go into great detail about the basics and fundamentals of oil painting painting any picture in my home study course “The Insider Guide to the Secrets of Oil Painting”