More about GLAZING

[Biki]

i am cross posting this question (in oils) because I REALLY want to know.

hopefully, you classic folk will jump in with an answer for me.

What can you tell me about glazing skin tones.?

What colours do you use?
which do you lay down first - second - third.?

This is a follow up after reading what Belladonna & others had to say in the last glazing thread that popped up again in the last couple of days.

[belladonna]

For skin tones… you can use so many different colors and combinations. Look to the model and examine his/her skin tones. The skin could have any number of undertones. Try glazing with the complement of the undertone. Think of winter, spring, summer and fall when looking at skin tones. It might help you narrow it down. Your own personal choice of color is ONE of the things that will make your painting uniquely yours, or, you can stick very closely to the models coloring. In the end, it’s up to you what exact colors you use. There are hundreds of reds, blues, greens, yellows etc. to choose from. I can’t say that I have ever used the exact same combination on any 2 models. It depends on my mood at the paintings conception, the coloring of the model, and on the color scheme I am using for the entire picture.

Here is a detail of an unfinished painting by O’Runge. It is an unfinished portrait of the artists mother. (It has lots of cracks in it because it lay rolled up and forgotten in an attic for many years… not because he use poor methods) Look at the chin, under the nose, in the shadows on the right of the cheek, on the mouth. You can see that he started with a gray/green background, then worked up the lights in opaque whites/yellows/and creams, scumbled in the darker areas, then glazed quite a bit of the painting with cool red. The mouth is very smooth and he probably used more layers of glaze here. I think he probably mixed the reds and greens alone to get those nice dark neutrals for some areas. It's hard to tell for sure, but I think he would have made these darks from a mix of red and green and then a bit of glaze in spots as well. The scumbled dark areas and the ruff white brush strokes in spots under the glaze, contrast nicely with the smooth waxy/glassy texture of the mouth. I love this guy. What a master he would have been if he had not died in his 20’s. :(

Anyway… where he used the red glaze, he turned the yellows orange, and the whites pink, and grayed out the greens. I figure he used about 4 tubes of colors for the entire painting, but with the help of the red glaze he was able to make grays, browns, pinks, oranges, plus there are still the cream, red, and green tones some of which were hardly touched with glaze at all. It made for a wonderful harmony of color and great depth. For another painting the complements could be blues and oranges, again depends of the scheme for the painting and the model and the mood of the painting. This is just one way of going about it...

[Classical Vince]

Great post Bella! Missed you around here ;) Hope to see some of your current work soon.

Biki - Alright alright, enough questions, for your next thread we wanna see you post some artwork! ;) :evil: :D You are so ready to absorb all this info and its great to see your passion for knowledge. -CV

[Biki]

Great post Bella! Missed you around here ;) Hope to see some of your current work soon.

Biki - Alright alright, enough questions, for your next thread we wanna see you post some artwork! ;) :evil: :D You are so ready to absorb all this info and its great to see your passion for knowledge. -CV

Ah Vince, I do paint you know :D - but I wouldn't dare post them here.
Classical I wannabe - but ain't. :crying:
But then again, maybe i should post here. I would love to hear some "what would you do different" answers.

I have thanked Bella privately, but want to also do it publicly, for her kindness in taking the time to answer my question so thoroughly. :angel: