Portrait Painting Tip #3: The fall of light

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James Gurney has an excellent article on the color zones of the face with examples and I will refer you to it
http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2008/05/color-zones-of-face.html

To recap his article:

• The forehead is the lightest/brightest part of the face
• The middle portion of the face from ear to ear including cheeks and nose is the reddest(warmer) part of the head.
• The lower section of the face below the nose is the grayer and cooler than the other 2 sections.

In his article he mentions capillaries and veins being the reasons for the local color zones of the face.

Apart from the local color of the zones of the face, I want to talk about the fall of light. Consider a head lit from above. If you think of a head as being shaped like an egg, the forehead is the top of the egg and it receives maximum light. As we move away from the top, the light gets weaker and weaker until it meets the core shadow(the point beyond there is no direct light on the egg). You can see this effect in the photo of the egg. By this consideration, you can see why the forehead is the brightest and chin is grayer and less bright as it recedes away from the light. This is known as the fall of light and it is a thing of beauty. You can observe it on any surface. As you get further away from the light source, the light effect gets weaker and duller.

Here is a beautiful example of this by Za Vue. You can clearly see the 3 color zones of the face with the forehead being the bright and golden, the middle section is red from ear to ear and the lower section below the nose is cool and grey. As always, these color zones relate to each other, meaning the cheeks are redder than the forehead, the chin is grey compared to forehead and cheeks. Please note that despite these observations the whole lit side of the face belongs to the light value family(See Portrait painting Tip #2 for more)





Also See Portrait Painting Tip #1, Tip #2, Tip#4

Portrait Painting Tip #2 Break it down into 3 distinct values

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A 9-step value scale divided into 3 value families

The key to designing a good painting is to break it down into 3 value families -light, medium and dark (not including highlights and dark accents). A painting designed with 3 values in mind looks organized and pleasant. So, how do you do that? Look at your scene and break-it down into 3 value families. Don't copy things exactly as you see them, look at the whole and decide which value family  each part of the painting belongs to. Ideally you want an unequal distribution of light, medium and dark values in your painting. You want one value to be the dominant mass, the second value to be sub-dominant and third one to be minimal in terms of canvas acreage. When the light value is dominant, it is called high-key painting. When the mid value is dominant, it is called mid-key and when the dark is dominant, it is called low-key painting.

There's a lot to be said about designing your paintings with 3 values but a picture is worth thousand words, so here are some examples. In the groupings below, the first image is the original painting. The second image is the original painting without color and third image is my simplification of the value masses in the painting.

The first example is a painting by Fechin. Please note that when you squint your eyes, the whole face falls into one value family.  When you start your painting, you need to think in terms of broad value masses like my simplification below. Once the value masses are clearly established, you can add half-tones that maintain the value masses. Details and accents come in last. Don't be distracted by features; things like eyeballs or lip color are accents on the face. In case of the Fechin's painting, the hair, dark part of the  shirt and left background belong to the dark family. There is a little bit of light on the front of the shirt. Notice that the face never crosses into the light family (except maybe the highlights)

In the example below by contemporary painter Suchitra Bhosle, the skin-tones belong to mid-tone value family, the shadow side of the face is a darker midtone but never gets as dark as the hair which belongs to the dark family. The light is in the background.

In this painting by Sorolla, the skin-tones and background are mid-tone. The light value mass belongs to the shirt, scarf and skirt. . There is a tiny amount of dark in this painting, only in the hair. The shadow below the neck is a dark accent as well as the eyes.

Below is a painting by Za Vue. She has a beautiful dominant light family of values running from the face down into the shirt. The shadow side of the face (like the cast shadow in her neck) belongs to the mid-tone. She has subdued the darks in the face so that it stays in the mid-tone family. The hair is mid-tone and there is little bit of dark around the face and in the background. 

I hope this makes sense. This is a packed blog post and it seems simple enough to understand but it is much harder to implement, especially when we get caught up in the details. Always remember to step back and look at the whole. This concept applies to all kinds of subject matter (not just portrait painting).

Also See Portrait Painting Tip #1, Tip #3, Tip#4

Portait Painting Tip #1: Know your light source.

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Know your light source. The first step is to identify the temperature of your light source. In model sessions we typically use either warm or cool spot lights. This step is important because the intensity and temperature of light influences the colors of the skin tones, surroundings and overall harmony of the painting. Don't get caught up with the local colors, try to observe the effect of light on the colors.

Cool light has warm shadows but remember, color temperature is always relative. What this means is that the shadow is warmer relative only to the colors of the skin tone in the light, so the overall harmony of the whole picture could still be cool. Also the shadow is affected by reflected light which could be warm or cool depending on the surrounding colors. 

Few examples of cool light paintings by Sargent and Fechin. Notice the overall cool color harmony of these paintings. 

    

Few examples of warm light paintings by Sargent and Sorolla. Notice the warm harmony of these paintings, the warm light affects the surroundings as well.

An example of cool and warm Max Ginsburg paintings side by side. Compare and contrast the skin tones of these two paintings.

  

Also See Portrait Painting Tip #2, Tip #3, Tip#4

Love of my life

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Studio Window. oil. 8x10in.

It's a bright, beautiful day. I enter my studio, set my coffee on the window sill, steam rising up, misting the window a little. I turn on my Queen playlist. It always starts with Bohemian Rhapsody. Freddie Mercury's voice, strong but beautiful, fills the room. 

"Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see".  

I lay out my colors and brushes, a blank canvas on the easel. I pick up my large brush, take on the painter's stance. My paints flow with Freddie's voice and my brushes dance to his tune. I scoop up luscious mixture of thick paint, and smear it on the canvas vigorously, thinking about large shapes of value and color. I step back and forward, flowing with the beat, scooping up more paint each time; Sometimes lashing and other times caressing the canvas. 

Freddie's voice booms across the room, emphatically. "We are the champions... of the world". 

I sing along. I'm painting with my whole body now. stepping with each beat, swinging my arms, approaching the canvas from all sides. I feel synergetic with Freddie and it shows in my painting.

"Don't stop me now" is playing.

King's Blue. oil. 6x8in.

The whole canvas is covered now. Giant Piles of paint reduced to driblets. I squeeze out fresh paint. I start adding details. I mix instinctively. My brush jumps from pile to pile picking up fresh paint, mixing them to create colors that sparkle. The grey's are lush and the red's radiant. The sunlight feels warm and bright on the canvas. 

Up next "It's a kind of magic"

I am in the zone. I keep painting, refining shapes. Smaller shapes fit into larger ones. I am close to the finish. 

"I want it all"

I keep going, adding minor touches. Bohemian Rhapsody starts again. My excitement rises with the crescendo. I burst forth with Freddie's flamboyance. I am ecstatic. This may be my best painting ever. 

"Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality"

"Beep Beep Beep" The alarm goes off and I wake up.


PS: I recently watched the movie Bohemian Rhapsody and I was blown away by Rami Malek's potrayal of Freddie Mercury. It rekindled my love for Queen and it's been a blast listening to them in the studio since then. This fun post is my tribute to them.

In a world where you can be ANYTHING, Be KIND

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@bhavanikrishnanart

I ripped-off a T-shirt quote for my title. I saw my yoga teacher wearing it and it made me think for a long time. Ergo, it goes in my blog. I started thinking about how this applies to artists. I feel fortunate to have met so many wonderful artists in the past few years. There are some that stand out not only for their mad painting skills but for being amazing people. They make me want to be a better person. They are kind, generous and humble.

I have picked up a few lessons from them. These may sound preachy but I am preaching to myself more than anyone else. A reminder to my current and future self.

Be kind while commenting on another artists work, be it a friend or stranger, no matter the setting, casual or an official. Artists are sensitive about what they create. The key is to be genuine. I believe people can easily tell if you are being fake. Besides, no matter the level of an artist, there is always something good going on in a painting. If you have an open mind, you will see it and you can give a genuine compliment. Any artist could use encouragement.

Be kind to someone who is new to any event, art club, figure session or art group. Help someone new with their gear and try to encourage them. If you go painting with a friend, be aware of their needs and be accommodating. The best people are kind, irrespective of the circumstances. Even in a competition setting, they put people first. In the grand scheme of things, one competition is not going to make or break you.

Most of all, don't forget to be kind to yourself. As artists we are our worst enemies, always expecting too much and never satisfied with what we create. You know the horrible boss from our nightmares; that's us. Always remember how far you have come and when someone pays you a compliment accept it and allow it to make you feel positive about your work.

In conclusion I would like to quote Justin Timberlake, who so succintly crooned "What goes around, goes around, goes around, comes all the way back around". So, next time an opportunity presents, remember to choose kindness.

Why I need a social media fast now and then

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@bhavanikrishnanart

This is me. I wake up in the morning and the first thing I look at when I open my eyes is Instagram. I follow about 600 other artists on Instagram. On any given day, my feed includes amazing artwork being posted by the talented people I follow. People are posting paintings from plein air events and invitationals. Several people have shows opening, many others have won awards at various events, some are teaching workshops and so on. Here, I am starting my day with nothing going on, and I already feel like a loser. You see where I am going with this? 

It's obvious that this is not good for me. I think in writing this blogpost, I am realizing how much I am addicted to Instagram. Yikes! Don't get me wrong, I am very pleased that I have all of this information at my fingertips and I am very happy for everything my friends are doing and achieving but there is fine line between staying up to date and having too much information.

I used to justify my time spent on Instagram but calling it "research". But is it.. really? What good is a movie director if he spent all his time watching films claiming that he is doing research. At some point he has to stop or actually make his own film.

So, what is an artist to do in this day and age of social media. Allow yourself a social media cleanse once in a while. If you are feeling overwhelmed, just put your phone away and don't look at Instagram until your painting day is over. Sometimes you just need to close that door, not let anyone in and spend some alone time with your paints and your canvas. Listen to some music. Better yet, go outdoors and do some plein air painting.

It seems so obvious now that I read my post but I think I need to write this; just so I can remind myself the next time my head starts spinning, having overdosed yet again on my Instagram feed. It's already happening. Time to start that cleanse. Tata.

PS: When you are not on a cleanse, please follow me @bhavanikrishnanart (LOL)

Classical realism vs the rest of the world

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Painting by Nelson Shanks

After my training (about a year in a classical atelier), I came out believing that classical realism is supreme. Having entered the atelier with no prior knowledge of art history, I was like a sponge, absorbing everything about the rich history of realism. I was in awe of the skill of my teacher and the people around me.

When I learn from someone I admire, I get so caught up with absorbing some of their genius that I start to emulate them to my best abilities. When I left the atelier, I had some skills but felt so lost. I hated using a tiny brush and the amount of time it took me to create paintings that did nothing to me. I was drawn to paintings which were more expressive, like Nicolai Fechin and Sorolla. They did something to my soul that a realist painting would not. For the longest time,  I had this battle raging in my head - classical realism vs everything else. In my heart, I wanted my paintings to be loose and expressive but my brain was trained to look at the tiniest form on the nose or the lips and to try and capture it. If I didn't capture it, I would feel like I am letting my teacher down and there-in lies my biggest fault. I had forgotten that the most important person I paint for is myself, not for my teacher or anyone else. I paint because I desire to create. At the end of the day, I need to paint in a style that resonates with me. It is easier said than done. It drove me nuts but the more I painted, the more obvious it was.

Painting by Nicolai Fechin

It's a good thing that I always listen to my heart and not my brain(aka I quit my full-time job to paint). So going against my brain, I sought a teacher who painted in a style that is the  complete opposite of classical realism.

Another fault of mine is believing that there is a one and only...  When I brought this up with my new teacher, she said something that seems so obvious in hindsight but I was oblivious until I heard it. She said "It is a matter of preference, of personal choice. I would not compare classical realism to impressionism." This conversation changed me. Would you compare Mozart to Nirvana? Each one has its own audience that revere and worship them.  Once I accepted this, my eyes opened up to whole new world of artistic sensibilities. I had given myself the permission to explore and I felt free.

I have since learned to admire so many different styles of paintings. I have learned that I love design, and I love line. I love moody paintings. I love complex paintings and I love simple paintings. Most of all, I love paintings that are about the paint application. I love it when the subject is an accidental byproduct of the paint application. It's an ongoing process and each day I discover something new to love.

I have found out what is true to me because I gave myself the permission to do so. I know that this will change as I grow and that's part of the journey. But for now, I can say the battle in my head has ended with no casualties.