Assignment

Stage 3: In this moment of the painting we are going to work both on the painting and also some important skills that are necessary to become a successful painter. Consistency plays a major role in the technical growth of an artist. This stage will be a repetition of our efforts from the block in stage in that we are looking to refine the application of the concepts and effects we established in the first two stages. For that reason it’s important that you push past the desire to “hold onto” the previous layer of the painting. You will need to paint a new block in over the top of your now dried paint layer- today though, you will have a much more advanced starting point which will enable you to push yourself further towards accuracy and subtlety.

1. Re-establishing the block in is the first responsibility in this stage. We will have to repaint the painting! Our block in might have been pretty good but now is the time to push it to the next level, and to do that we have to reactivate the drawing inside the painting.
2. Be selective about what parts of the canvas are most important to work on. If we want the background to be thinner and more transparent it might be best if we can leave it alone at this point. In my demonstration I will be focusing most of my attention on the portrait, and in specific the face.
3. Look to the decisions you made in the previous layer and let them guide you to make a more refined choice in this layer. Should this value have been lighter? What about the shape of the shadow under the nose, was it too wide? Are all of the features aligned well with the center line of the head? The “second” block in is the right time to make adjustments on areas like these.