Self Portrait -- Step 4

Painting

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Painting

Self Portrait: Step 4

An illustrated, step-by-step demonstration of a self-portrait painting.

Related Self Portrait Resources

• Self Portrait Demonstration
• Self Portrait Demo: Step 1
• Self Portrait Demo: Step 2
• Self Portrait Demo: Step 3
• Self Portrait Demo: Step 4
• Self Portrait Demo: Step 5
• Self Portrait Demo: Step 6
• Why Artists Should Paint Self Portraits
• Figure Painting Class: Face Proportions

I now introduced gold ochre, lightening up the hair to reflect its highlights. This changed the mood of the painting, from sombre and dark to something more contemplative.

The gold ochre was put straight from the tube onto a brush, then applied to the canvas, starting at the bottom (tips) of the hair, brushing up towards the top of the head.

Some of the paint was allowed to remain thick; some was thinned with water. This created variation in the hair, rather than a solid mass of colour. It also allowed the underlying layers to show through in places and influence the colour of the gold ochre in the areas where it was thin (it's a fairly opaque colour).

Very thin glazes of the gold ochre were applied to the cheek/nose bits of the face which were going to be in light, rather than shadow.