Cowboy Demo Day 5 - Almost There!

     

     First of all, let me apologize for the downtime in the blog posts yesterday.  Between torrential rains and Murphy slouching around in my computer, it was an interesting day.  Thanks for your patience.

     Here we go….. Today’s first wash will wrap up the broad washes on the face.  I mixed up a fairly large puddle of Cadmium Red that was again the consistency of coffee.

     I don’t like to dry this with a hair dryer because, in my opinion, the dryer tends to steam this color and make it dry a bit flat.  Put this wash on and let it dry completely, without the dryer.  I promise, your patience will be rewarded.

     Now, we will take our original purple mix (Ultramarine Blue and Alizarin Crimson) and restate some of our darks.  I restated the darks around the eye, the crevice darks of the ear and nostril, and applied a light wash on the hair to cool it a bit.

    Today’s second image doesn’t have a lot going on but it’s an important part of making our portrait of Walter look real.  I floated a wash of Cadmium Orange on the underside of the chin.  This wash gives the illusion of reflected light bouncing up from the ground.  This wash will be wet on dry.  Lay this wash and get out of the area.  This is no time to fiddle.  Lay the wash and go! 

     I then used a little Raw Umber and a touch of Burnt Sienna to make the mustache.  Nothing fancy here, just keep it simple.  Let’s call the face done!

      Today’s last photo will move us toward the finish line.  We’ll work on the hat and wild rag that’s around Walter’s neck.  The hat is pretty straightforward:  a bit of Burnt Sienna in warm spots.  (Check your photo).

     The Wild Rag will be a bit more work.  Don’t get caught up here drawing every little paisley and nuance---find the big shapes and free hand some of the detail.  What we DON’T want to do is get trapped in minutia. 

     I quickly indicated the blue areas with Ultramarine Blue and a big brush.  Tomorrow we will tackle the hat and more of the Wild Rag and hope to finish up the painting.  Thanks again for your patience and good luck on your painting. 

You should be able to double click on the images and see them in a larger format.

All content and images © Mark Kohler Studio.