Frosting the Cake

So many of us just stop working on a painting and call it "finished" - by giving up when we cannot think of anything else to do.

Of course it is hard to know when to quit and I've certainly  done my share of this.

Mother and Child

20" x 24" Oil on Linen

However I am "finishing"  a painting today and thought I'd show the process on a portion of the sleeve.

I've used a simple palette of just the particular area/color I am working on. Titanium White on the left and Raw Umber on the right. I use a small cheapie craft brush to mix the two and create a range of value with a small puddle of Liquin.

Above is the dry surface - I could declare it finished but I want to "beautify" it. Up close, the surface is "uneven, raw" and to my eye, does not "glow."

I start by matching the exact values of the shadows (I mix on the painting more often than not).

I use a scumble - that is, a little paint and more medium to make a "milky, see-through" mixture." I scumble this into the shadows to "flatten" them but not to repaint or completely cover. 

Sorry, I realize that it is so hard to see the flattened shadows in the pix above - it is very subtle and hard to photograph for you.

The next day when all is dry, I add the "frosting," i.e., the little surface details (fabric creases, highlights) that count. In painting, we often say, "God is in the details."

I generally define the small areas where light and shadow meet. I do NOT change the values nor do I put any light into shadows where they do not belong.  I am still working with translucent paint (the scumble).

After I have finished the sleeve, I repeat the process on the skin, hair and/or wherever I wish.

If you're not in a rush, you can repeat this entire process - adding another translucent layer on top of the last one after the surface is dry.

This is how to "beautify" your surface, make it glow and generally cause your painting to look more "painterly."

This is as far as I've gotten today. Tomorrow I will add another layer if I think it needs it. Generally, the more layers I do, the better it gets..as long as I don't use opaque paint.

This entire process only takes an hour or so... and since it is such a "piece of cake," I really do think of it as "frosting." 

Note: 

You are NOT repainting the surface. You are only "enhancing & beautifying" it.

Encaustic Portrait of a Woman

Portrait of a Grand Mother

12" x 12" Encaustic and oil on board

Commissioned Portrait

I just finished this little portrait (it is only the second portrait I have done in encaustic paint). I really love working in this medium because is so "immediate" compared to the way I usually work in oils.

For those of you who have never seen this process, here's how I began this portrait:

I gessoed a 12" x12" cradled (so it won't warp) birch plywood board. I used "Holy Grail Gesso." Do NOT use "regular" gesso - the encaustic paint won't "grab" onto the surface.

Holy Grail can come in different colors (if you order enough). I get mine from Evans Encaustics.

I use cadmium orange under very dark colors (like black). It adds "life and luminosity" where it is allowed to peek through.

I establish my main design values with a mixture of raw umber + white Holy Grail Gesso in different values.

On top of the Holy Grail Gesso, you can see my pencil drawing marks - the encaustic layer will cover them.

In this very first stage - the composition has to "work."

This is the first layer of encaustic paint. I was trying to establish the general value and color of the finished areas.

Of these two considerations, value is always the most important.

Despite that I may not account for all the colors in an underpainting I always begin with the intention and plan to include some representation of red, yellow, blue, black and white in every painting.

I always do my drawings on acetate so I can see through it. I used this drawing to transfer portions of the drawing for the Holy Grail layer and am reusing it to bet the details on the encaustic layer.

I will use and reuse this acetate drawing to keep checking throughout the construction of this painting to be sure that I keep the sitter's likeness.

To transfer my drawing to the encaustic layer, I use a sheet of tracing paper much like a piece of old-fashioned carbon paper.

Long ago I rubbed a white pastel into the surface of this tracing paper. I have a stack of sheets of different colors that I use.

Although this tracing sheet gets ratty looking with age, it works to transfer drawings to just about every surface for oil painting, encaustic, watercolor, etc.

Sorry I don't have more pictures of each stage but I layered oil and encaustic...until it was "finished."

I think that showing the early stages is far more important to this particular process.

I also like a "fancy" frame - just like the ones I put on my traditional oil paintings.