A small portrait command... a technical exercise

[Sergio Ostroverhy]

Hello Karin,

Thanks for your reply. Indeed I shall do a demo of my Aquarelle technique for the next work.

Meanwhile here is the preparatory drawing. The idea with Gin is not so bad ... will try it myself ... although using a Russian watercolor called "Leningrad", I'd better dilute it with Vodka!

Tell me honestly what was your feeling when you had got the first ASOPA prize!?

Friendly,
Sergio

[Sergio Ostroverhy]

Hello Valerie,

Thanks for your detailed answer. I shall try LANA too, although I do not remember if its surface is smooth or not.

Hard to talk about anything, I think, if you do not illustrate your words. Maybe you have a website?

Here is the full picture of the general (the drawing above) and the detail again, using 3H Derwent.

OK. I think that is it, but to repeat - I can hardly understand you without illustration.

Best regards,
Sergio

[Sergio Ostroverhy]

Here is the work after using the watercolor. As you can see the model, more precisely the "commanditaire" asked me to do some aesthetical operation (put away the grids under the left eye!)

I repeat again: I did not use several layers for that portrait! Only one "a la prima".

Concerning the brushes I use, Valerie, I use anything which is under my hands, knowing however, that once per year I go to the biggest French art store and buy everything I see without counting. This way I always have something new under my hands.

[Valerie Gudorf]

Hi Everyone,

I've deleted the above inappropriately posted image. I apologize for disrupting the focus of the forum and causing possible confusion.

Sergio, your drawing of the general is a thing of beauty, having the ability to stand alone as a finished piece. I am in awe! Few watercolorists that I know of (well actually, no other) execute such a complete drawing to serve as the underpainting to a watercolor. The drawing serves as a complete grisaille. Now I understand why it was unneccessary to use more than a few subsequent layers of paint. It works particularly well for depicting your military man.

I neglected to specify that I use the cold press (the British call it, "Not") paper surface when attempting the above mentioned multi-glazing technique. I wish I had an appropriate WIP to illustrate the method. I wish also, that I could take credit for a new and innovative watercolor technique, but alas, there are countless others out there who execute it far better than I. I'm sorry that I have not been able to state the concept very clearly, Sergio. As I said earlier, I'll soon be attempting to paint a portrait in this style. Perhaps I can post it here as a work-in-progress, with a detailed explaination for each step.

By the way, Sergio, in the ordinary Virginia town where I come from, the idea of a french firefighter who also happens to be an incredible artist, is a pretty exotic idea. It certainly has captured my imagination. Please, if you would, answer this question: Which thing has your heart most strongly, fire fighting or painting?

Sergio,

Your portraits have been wonderful! I especially love this last posting, "Mon General'. Nice, detail work.

When you create your undertone with the pencil, do you spray it with fixative before you add the watercolour?

[Karin Wells]

Tell me honestly what was your feeling when you had got the first ASOPA prize!?

Disbelief.

As to using Gin instead of water...I really think that Vodka might be a better idea...it smells less.

[Linda Nelson]

Howdee Sergio,

Congratulations on a marvelous job here, Sergio. Not only is it rendered beautifully, but he really comes across as an intruiging individual with character.

Sumptuous.

Linda

[Sergio Ostroverhy]

Hello Melissa,

I did not fix the drawing because the idea was to use the watercolor as an "stumpage" technique, to erase the pencil with your brush and water. The drawing is present only as a tonal reference which disappears during the work.

B.R. Sergio

P.S. Look at the third page in this section to see the progression of my work from the photo to the drawing and painting please!

[Sergio Ostroverhy]

Hello Valerie,

I did not get the idea of "cold press paper" -- is it a kind of "bristol" with a soft surface or do you pass the paper under press yourself?

Also why did you take away that great watercolor? Even if it is not a portrait we are discussing the technique so any illustrations of it are helpful, I think.

Concerning my firefighting: I consider FIRE as a mystical entity, a kind of "zarathustrian" God, which takes form in many things like "passion", "love", painting" or "firefighting". In fact I cannot make the difference between the two activities: one of them is saving people's "body" the other one is saving their "soul".

Friendly Regards! Sergio. Thanks for your replies and post some of your works for discussion too!

P.S. Look at the third page in this section to see the progression of my work from the photo to the drawing and painting please!

[Sergio Ostroverhy]

Hello Linda,

Thanks for the positive reply: the idea in this portrait was to fulfill a command but at the same time illustrate an idea which people usually say, "the painting is so real as if he would be alive".

This concept was even more important to me because of the original photo which was of an awful quality done by a non professional. Unfortunately I cannot display it entirely so here is only a piece. That idea of "as alive", a kind of "magic" feeling when you look at it, is really present when you see the picture in reality. Here on the screen it is lost.

P.S. Look at the third page in this section to see the progression of my work from the photo to the drawing and painting please!