D. Cheifetz Newsletter | 9.17.19 | Kids
Sent: 9/17/2019 1:09:51 PM

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Dear Subscribers,

Greetings,

...continuing from the previous newsletter.

I painted my kids.

First stage. If you look closely, there are tiny red dots on the panel (dividing lengths into 1/4ths). These are reference points to make sure I don't stray too far from the proportions of my reference photo. While I'm reliant on eyeballing for accurate proportions, this trick can help speed up that process. During this stage, I'm massing in large shapes with a bristle brush. My normal process is to mass in shapes of shadows in umber, but I felt like mixing things up.

My palette of colors is a little different this time as well.

My standard palette that I normally use is:

Ivory black

Phthalo blue

Ultramarine blue

Alizarin crimson

Cadmium red

Cadmium orange

Burnt umber

Raw umber

Yellow ocher

Cad Yellow

Cad Lemon

Titanium White

In this painting, I'm using:

Ivory black

Viridian

Ultramarine blue

Cerulean blue

Violet

Alizarin crimson

Matisson pink (out of production)

Cadmium red

Cadmium orange

Burnt umber

Yellow ocher

Cad Yellow

Cad Lemon

Titanium White

Next stage. I start applying paint with the knife as well:

Next stage:

Next stage. Defining/locking in proportions of my son's features:

Next stage. Tweaking proportions of features, getting into the hair, starting on background portrait (my daughter), and getting some tone on the entire panel:

Next stage. Ghostly tertiary figure in the background. I'm making my daughter high key to add depth and give a sense of the atmospheric bright light washing over the scene. My son's head has a full value range and remains the focus of the painting. It's this sort of impactful manipulation that elevates a painting from the original reference.

Next stage. My daughter has her arm up and is looking at something in her hand. I experiment with levels of definition and eventually decide to make this as ambiguous as possible in order to retain dramatic focus on the primary portrait.

Development of my son's hair and minor adjustments all around.

And the finished painting (16x20 oil on panel):

Bainbridge Island Workshop

My next workshop will be on beautiful Bainbridge Island (plenty of great accommodation options on the island and it is a short ferry ride away from downtown Seattle). This will be my first time working with Winslow Art Center and I'm looking forward to it.

Still Life Composition & Painting

3-Day Workshop

January 18-20, 2020

$525

Details and Registration

I hope you can join us!

JUST SOLD:

A Force Of Nature

Thank you for reading. Until next time, best wishes. -David

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