Karin Wells Studio: How to build the dead layer

This is the finished portrait of Joanna. 20" x 24" Oil on Linen.

When painting in layers, it is important to understand that each layer is painted to facilitate the following layer - NOT to correct mistakes.

Start with a plan and draw it out in detail before you ever pick up a brush.

Of course I began with a raw umber toned imprimatura. See this.

When the imprimatura was dry I transferred the drawing to the canvas, used a black Sharpie marker for my guide lines and began to "draw" using raw umber and Liquin. I like to use a soft brush.

This is a close up detail of the beginning of the drawing process. You can see my drawing (cartoon) under the paint.

This is the finished raw umber drawing. It can be done in one day, but sometimes I take more time. Even though it gets dark, the Raw Umber is a warm amber and transparent.

Be sure to let this dry.

This is my first layer of white in building the "dead" underlayer. To begin, I scumble a mixture of Titanium White and Liquin onto the dry surface.

I used to use Zinc White but it has been found to be unstable.

Then I slowly begin to build up white as you can see in this detail. Except for some areas of the sky, I'll stick pretty much to the figure.

Note that light is applied thickly. Shadows are thin and transparent.

This is day two and I'm still building light.

This is a detail of how the light is built and as far as I wish to go on the figure and objects in the foreground.

I'm starting to glaze color into the background and put in the first skin tone glazes.

You can see the rest of my process here:

Painting Skin Tones one layer at a time.

Losing a Likeness and finding it - again and again

Old Master Color Banding in Portraiture

This layer can be scary because it looks so radical...but it basically what gives the skin its luminosity. Some people start with it but I wait until the surrounding areas are well established before I use any white paint.

I usually save the face until last because the skin tones are determined by what surrounds it.

First, I draw the face in with raw umber and let it dry. Then I begin to use pure zinc white - straight from the tube and build form. Later I begin to use the more opaque titanium white paint.

I don't usually paint over a color (as in the hair) but I realized that I needed to build the light on the face and hair all together.

The face underpainting is finished. It make several days and is a very slow process. It takes as long as it takes. It is necessary to get a likeness starting now.