My first grisaille
 

This is the first step on this portrait. It's a grisaille underpainting and after making some adjustments, I will start applying glazes of color. However before I do that, I would like to hear some critiques since the painting is not finished and corrections are still possible.

This is another shot of the same painting that shows that entire size of the canvas. This one shows a little distortion because I had to angle the painting a little bit to avoid some reflexions.

Eyelights
 

Tito,

This looks like a masterful and accomplished grisaille. As this is not a method I use, I will leave comments about it to others that do.

However, the first thing that struck me was the intensity of the light in the eyes. It is so strong that it completely detracts from the very sensitive modeling. Check your model or reference and you will see the the eyelight in overhead lighting is extremely subtle or not visible at all. Also, the closest eyelight is usually stronger than the one further back.

Sincerely,

I never make my underpaintings this detailed. It looks like a finished painting to me. (I share Sharon's critique about the highlights in the eyes, they look unnatural.) I personally would regret it when you apply colour - or change anything else - on this one, because it is a truly beautiful painting as it is now.

Peter

I appreciate your critiques. Actually there was another light in front of the sitter that he was looking at.

I'm amazed at Sharon's perception, she is quite right the original finished grisaille did not have highlightes in the eyes. I added them as an afterthought because I was afraid the eyes needed more definition. I guess you can't fool Mother Nature. Here is the photo before I put the highlights:

Tito,

I would hold on to this image (the quality looks very good on my screen). This will be difficult to improve upon with color in my opinion. I look forward to the comparison. Good luck.

Tito,

That looks awesome. I agree with Sharon about the highlight. It looks more natural now without the highlight. Great job.

Hi Tito,

This is a wonderful rendering, the work looks very mature and I could not find anything wrong with it, especially after you changed the highlights in the eyes. That lock of hair in the front is sort of funky looking and makes me wonder how the portrait should be dated, since that type of hairdo is reminiscent of a different era.

I met a young art student by the name of Jim Nam, who works exactly how you are approaching this piece. He showed an absolutely gorgeous under-painting and proceeded by tinting the image with very thin transparent color glazes. He said he uses transparent Blue Oxide, Alizarin Crimson, Yellow Oxide, Red Oxide and Flake White 1 and 2. He called his medium a Gel medium, which consisted of a mix of Copal and Walnut Oil or cold pressed Linseed Oil mixed in Brazilian Turp. His brush strokes were short dabs and reminded me of impressionistic paintings. I have not used this combination of medium myself and since this young man was from Vietnam, we might have dealt with some miscommunication or mislabeling. I am curious if you know of these mixes. The end result was phenomenal and the skin looked like it was pulsating with life. If I can find him and convince him to teach me his technique I will share the experience with you all.

I agree
 

Tito,

This is so good as a grisaille. I know you want to go through with the glazing, but they are all right about it standing alone without another color.

If you don't mind, please tell me how you photographed this so clearly. Not a digital, is it?

His eyes look great just like they are now. Needs not one highlight.

Congratulations,
Denise

Tito,

Yes, this is sound as it is. But I think you should go for the glazing experiment. Better to learn on a good foundation than a shaky one.

Whenever I feel that I might go backward by going forward, I remind myself, "This is just a piece of canvas." Little to lose, much to gain.

Best wishes, whichever way you go.

Thank you all for your comments.

For the most part I used several sittings with the model in front of me under a strong artificial "daylight" reflector. I did take some reference photographs, but they came out with the orbits of the eyes completely black and did not help me to do the eyes. First of all, I had decided that the eyes were the important feature in this particular person and tried to do them well.

Regarding his hair, this man had had brain surgery a year ago and he combs his hair forward to cover up his surgical scar. He likes this painting as is and he calls it the "General Robert Lee's portrait".

This is an experiment to me and by using glazes of color I might lose the painting but like Chris says, "what the heck, it's only a piece of canvas". I understand now why in the old days of the atelier system, the Master would not allow his students to use color until they could manage monochromatic paintings. Achieving correct values by using color has been always very difficult to me.

Bravo!

Not afraid to lose something you know you can do, and you are prepared to take the next step in painting. Good Luck!

Post the pictures, even if you fail. An interesting failure may be a good thing to study for your future projects.

Peter

Photos
 

Tito, I'd make sure to get a good photograph of this and then continue with your glazes. This is too good to lose forever.

Jean

I'm not afraid to lose my grisaille as long as I have access to the model, because I can paint him again if I have to. I promise to display the end result of my experiment, good or bad, so that we all can learn something. I will start applying color this weekend.