Painting "Man With A Violin"

I finished a new piece! This is an 11×14 acrylic on belgian linen titled “Man With A Violin”. My reference photo came from paint-my-photo.net.
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​To paint this man’s skin, I mixed zinc white with varying amounts of transparent raw sienna to match the different tones. I glazed different shades of pink and yellow over that.  After reexamining his face, I decided it needed more contrast. I layered transparent middle red over the darker parts of his face to brighten them. I went over that with transparent middle yellow and finally transparent raw sienna. To hype up the contrast, even more, I layered over the pale part on the side of his cheek with zinc white. I went over the entire dark darkest part of his face with a single layer of zinc white to make it blend in more with the lighter part. I mixed gray from zinc white and mars black, thinned it with matte medium, and applied this where appropriate on his face. I applied transparent raw Sienna and transparent middle red mix with sink White transparent middle yellow and more transparent raw sienna under his eyes and above his lip.  I looked later and saw that the areas around his eyes were too orange, so I layered ultramarine blue mixed with zinc white over them to tone them down. I also layered green over some of the parts of his face that were too red. I started to paint his nostrils by layering transparent raw sienna, transparent middle red, and azo yellow deep.

​For his lips, I mixed transparent raw sienna and cadmium red deep, I layered over that with zinc white and more transparent raw sienna. I noticed that his lips were looking too orange. So I layered over them with a touch of blue to tone it down. Then I went over that with a pink made by mixing zinc cadmium  red deep. Blue is orange’s complement so that’s why this worked.

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​I used van dyke Brown mixed with oxide black and thinned with gloss medium to paint the irises of his eyes. As usual, I used Mars black to paint his pupils. A dark gray made by mixing titanium White an oxide black when on the inner corners and along the lids in his corneas.

I used varying shades of gray made by mixing zinc white and Mars black to paint his hair. I mixed burnt sienna with mars black, and using a large round brush, put small touches of this color in his hair.

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​I painted the violin with two thin layers of burnt sienna. Then the color party got started. The violin has a high gloss finish, so it needed to have colors from just about every other color in the painting. I used glazes of zinc white, grayed ultramarine blue, cadmium red deep, deep green permanent, to tone down the red, and Hansa yellow. I would like to point out again, that when making a grayish color for glazing, I always use zinc white and mars black, never titanium white, or ivory black. Using a liner brush I painted Van Dyke brown around the edges of his violin. I painted the tailpiece of the violin with a blue made by mixing zinc white, mars black, and pthalo blue. After the color was on, I decided it was too bright, so I glazed over it with a color made by mixing zinc white and mars black. I mixed burnt sienna with mars black and applied it, using a large round brush, where appropriate on the chinrest. I mixed a similar blue to the one I’d used on the tailpiece and painted streaks of this across the mixed burnt sienna and black color. I thinned all of these colors with matte medium. I also painted along the side of the tailpiece with zinc white and touches of titanium white for shine. To amp up the reflectiveness, even more, I applied zinc white where it was needed on the body of the violin. I painted the swirl on the body of the violin with oxide black using a large round brush. I painted lines of burnt sienna on the bow using a small round brush and a liner brush. I went over the whole thing with a single very thin layer of transparent raw sienna, then with a single layer of zinc white. I painted a single thin strip of titanium white along the outer edge.

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​I painted his shirt color using various shades of gray made by mixing zinc white and ivory black. I mixed light blue permanent into the gray that was already on my palette, added more zinc white to adjust it, and, using a small round brush, painted thin patches of this color where appropriate.

​I mixed the same ultramarine blue that I still had on my palette with mars black and used it to glaze over the dark parts of his suit.

Using a large filbert brush, I painted a shadow of purple around the right side of the man.

That’s all for now. I’ll talk to you gain next week.

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