I’m in the middle of working on a copy of a Rembrandt self-portrait.

It’s 12″ x 12″ Oil on Dibond, prepared with two perpendicular layers of clear gesso over a transferred reference drawing.

I really like the later work of Rembrandt with the thick impasto and virtuoso brushstrokes. He worked in layers with thick paint, I work in one layer wet in wet with fluid paint.. hmmm, a bit of a problem that!

So I’m going to try to capture the spirit (but not the genius) of one of his paintings without the thick paint application and use of multiple layers.
I tend to work now in 5 value steps, from pure black to the lightest values and then adding touches with pure titanium white into the lightest areas where needed.

First of all I trace a simplified form outline drawing that shows the rough positions of the features for each value step onto the board.

I thought it would be useful to post pictures from start to finish so you can see how the painting develops. I’m always liked following threads where the painting develops..

So, the very simple start:

More later..