How to Paint a Masterpiece using Verdaccio

        I gave a four-minute PowerPoint Presentation today on one of my favorite subjects:  oil painting.  It was called "How to Paint a Masterpiece" and was based on my 200-hour effort to learn how to use a technique used by many Old Masters called "Verdaccio."     (The Verdaccio technique includes making a green-grey under-painting in perfect values upon which the artist applies color, often leaving the gray-green showing in the shadow parts of the subject, landscape or architectural areas.)   

                                                               

       It probably wouldn't take most artists 200 hours to do one painting, but I did it the hard way: starting over a few times to push myself to make the best product I could.  Since I took a plethera of photos along the way it wasn't hard to find examples of most of the key steps in the Verdaccio method, as I learned it from Lynn Melman Weidinger.

Step 1:  Select a master piece to "study".

This is a wonderful portrait by the master French painter Ingres.

Step 2:  Cut an untempered Masonite board to the size you want your painting to be.  I chose to make the painting 16"x20", a nice standard size.  Roll white gesso on create an acid-free barrier below your paints. 

Step 3:  Enlarge the portion of the photograph that you want to study to the size of the painting you want to produce.

 

Step 4:  Take a clear sheet of plastic the size of your painting and draw a grid on it.  With a fine point permanent marker draw the important proportion points of the original painting.  This pattern will help as you go through the painting process to put over your painting to see if the eye is too small, the nose off center or the any other important line off.  In portrait work, unless you've done it yourself, you can't imagine how much difference tiny marks will make.  You must be an obsessive perfectionist to get an exact likeness.  Draw the same size grid on your gesso board.

Guide lines on clear plastic to help bring you back when your painting strays...and there are so many opportunities to do that with this technique.

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Step. 5:  Draw your subject with India Ink on the board.  Use the guidelines for accuracy then erase them.

India Ink on gessoed board

  

The next step (6) is one you hate to do.  You are supposed to paint thin gesso over the inked drawing until you can barely see the drawing beneath.  That locks in the base drawing in case you need to sand off some of the later layers and  go back to your most accurate drawing.  We don't want the strong ink to show through light areas of the subsequent layers of paint, therefore we tone it down.  You may want to build up the gesso to give a three-dimensional quality to the painting.  In other words, give
more gesso to the parts that are closer to the viewer:  the right cheek, side of the nose, the lips, forehead, end of shoulder and side of the hand.

 Step 7:  Draw the subject as accurately as possible using charcoal.  When it is ready, spray it with fixative.  I actually repeated steps 5, 6, and 7 a couple of times after not being happy with the way the drawing and the 3-D gesso were going.  Starting over doubled the total painting time.

Charcoal layer

Step 8:  Paint with verdaccio, which is a mix of black+white+green oil paint.  Keep the values the same as the values in the charcoal. 

Verdaccio layer.

detail

Step 9:  Begin adding color, matching the values in the under-painting.  Leave the face to last to avoid using too bright colors in the face.

Step 10:  Add skin tones, trying to match the verdaccio values.

Notice that green remains in the shadow areas.  Watch for green the next time you visit a gallery with old portraits.  In my final version I had made so many changes that the green was mostly obliterated.

Step 11:  Do the background.  I struggled with this and tried out many variations before settling on the one below.  I'm pleased with what I learned and felt I grew in skill and knowledge of how far I could push myself.  I look forward to doing verdaccio again.  I am in awe with the talents of Mr. Ingres.

After 200 hours, this is the final painting (for now). 

And this is my copy of the original I was studying.  It didn't come out exact, but I'm OK with it.

Sketching and the News

"Asian Girl with Ruffled Blouse" was drawn on 9/11/01 while I was glued to the television watching reruns of the unbelievably shocking news reports.  The notation says "World Trade Center 9-11-01.  9 (am) - first plane hit WTC. 10:28 (am) second tower collapsed."  (The full sketch is found in an earlier post.)

As I sketched "A little Boy playing in a Stream" I took notes during President George Bush's Speech to a Joint Session of Congress on September 20, 2001, which was about 17 days before the US attacked Afghanistan.

Here are some quotes written in the margins:  To the Armed Forces he said, "The hour is coming when America will act, and you will make us proud."  "An attack on one is an attack on all."  "In the last nine days the world has seen the state of our union, and it is strong."  "We will rally the world to our cause."  "Freedom and Fear are at war."  To Americans he said, “Live your lives, hug your children. (Go shopping.)  Be patient and have faith in the American economy and strength.”  “Don’t single people out because of their ethnic background.  Pray for us.  Faith and fear at at war.  We will rally the world to our cause.  We will not tire, falter or fail.  All countries must choose to be with us or against us.  God is not neutral between freedom and fear, cruelty and justice.  To the Taliban: hand over the terrorists or suffer their fate.  The emergency workers at the WTC who gave their lives probably saved 25,000 people…the greatest evacuation ever accomplished.”  

Above you will see my "The State of the Union Address given by President George Bush" on January 28, 2003, which was less than 60 days before the United States attacked Iraq and began the 8 year Iraq War. 

[First, please forgive my misspelled words.  I don't spell well, and if I am writing quickly, I spell even less well.  ]

 In this speech President Bush gave justification for going to war against Iraq, as well as some of his economic plans for the US.  He said: “Trusting Saddam Hussein is not an option.”   “I have a message for the people of Iraq:  the enemy of your country is not surrounding your country.  It is ruling your country!  “(An attack by us) will be your liberation.” “This nation fights reluctantly.”  “The liberty we prize is not America’s gift to the world; it is God’s gift to humanity.” (Roger and I opposed the war at the time for many reasons, but first of all, because it is against our religion to attack a country that did not attack us.)

Pencil Sketches of Children: Beautiful Sierra

Three-color chalk drawing on toned paper after
the technique of the Old Masters. About 11"x 14".
1/11/11.

Today is Sierra's 14th birthday and she finally opened the gift (this drawing) she had sweetly asked me to make for her. It was so fun to do and I hoped she would like it. She did!
I explained to Sierra that a portrait doesn't have to look exactly like a person -- if that's what you want you should take a photo. Instead, a portrait is a record of what the artist sees and what the artist feels about the subject. It can be a picture of the inner spirit of the individual. I see Sierra as a pure, sweet, full of faith and loving young woman and that's what I attempted to capture in this portrait. To me she is beautiful inside and out.
I finished it last week, on 1-11-11 (such a fun date) but I dated it with her birthday (Jan. 18) -- a great day for our family because she joined it.

Pencil Sketches of Children

One of my favorite subjects is Children. I have to draw from photos because kids usually stay in one place for a nanosecond and I'm not that fast! These are all family photos. Thea took the ones of the little Japanese girls, which I drew while watching the tragic and surreal events all day on 9-11-01.

The sketch of the girl standing in water is called "Getting Her Feet Wet." It's the preliminary study I did for the painting "Little Wader," which was posted earlier.

The little boy and girl are sketches of my grandchildren, Grant and Claire.

Sketches at a workshop

I attended a wonderful portrait workshop run by Paul Davis in April 2008. Here are some sketches in oil and charcoal, drawn "from life" as opposed to drawn from photo references.

"Watch This!"
pastel, 18"x24" on paper
9/17/2010

So here I am holding my "Quick Draw" sketch done at Thanksgiving Point today. It's of children playing at the base of a fantastic interactive water feature. The drawing was done in 1.5 hours, which wasn't nearly enough time. Roger sat with me and we had a wonderful time and lots of good laughs watching the kids getting soaked and squealing with delight. One boy yelled "Watch this!" and that became the title of the piece.

Pencil Sketches of Children: "Madison"

Detail of a pastel portrait on paper. July 2009.
In the private collection of Spencer & Heather Hess.

Showing the unique personalities of beautiful 8-year-old identical twins was an exciting challenge. The full version of this drawing shows Madison holding a book to represent her reading hobby and her thoughtful nature. BTW, Madison has one prominent freckle on her nose!

Pencil Sketches of Children: "MacKensie"

Detail of a pastel portrait on paper. July 2009.
In the private collection of Spencer & Heather Hess.

To represent MacKensie's gentle and nurturing nature, I include a doll cradled in her arms. MacKensie's forehead is just slightly rounder than Madison's.

"Princess Louise"

2008, oil on canvas, 16”x 20”

This is a study with variations of the masterpiece “Vicomtesse Othenin d’Haussonville, nee Louise-Albertine de Broglie” by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, (1780-1867) of France. (Don't ask me to repeat that without looking!) I took liberties with the image and background. I loved the delicate features, especially the light eyelashes.

This study was done in the Verdaccio method, a technique used by many of the old masters.

Above is a photo of the original painting upon which I based my study.

"The Dona"

2008, oil on canvas, 16”x20”

A study with variations after: “Dona Isabel Cobos de Porcel” by Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes, 1746-1828. Spain. (See photo of the original I used for this study below.)

This was another study using the verdaccio technique. I freely make "improvements" to the image and enjoyed using vibrant colors accented by black lace.

"A Blue-Haired Girl"

2007, acrylic on canvas, 18”x24”

She is named “A Blue-Haired Girl” since there could be others!
This was a playful painting where I let the acrylic paint wash and run like a watercolor. The chair was whimsical and the cat and girl were rendered with minimal strokes. The girl is based on my oldest daughter, Jennifer.

"Sunset Glow"

1995, acrylic on canvas, 11" x 14".
In the private collection of Dawn & Kerry Harding, Maryland.

As sunset neared I dashed to a nearby park to capture the hazy colors of the Maryland country side. I've enjoyed the results of this impressionistic moment.

"Forgotton Lane" (Forest Glen, Silver Spring, Maryland. Walter Reed Annex)

1996, oil on canvas. 24”x20”.

Deep in the overgrown forest in Silver Spring, Maryland, a wonderful hidden treasure laid just beyond view from the busy beltway. Known as Forest Glen, the property has a history going back into the 1600’s. In 1894 it became a seminary for girls who attended classes in a pagoda, a castle, a ballroom, some other unique buildings and this European-styled lane without their ever having to leave the premises.

Eventually the Walter Reed Naval Annex occupied some buildings and the LDS Temple was built on part of the original property. As I painted this scene on location in 1996, the remarkable buildings were crumbling with neglect. You may be able to read about the fascinating history and current efforts to preserve this treasure on the web.

Temple Painting: "Dogwoods at the DC Temple"

1997, oil on canvas, 22”x28”.
In the private collection of Marilyn & Robert Brinton, Utah.

Painting this scene resembled a dance. The strokes leapt, tapped and glided across the red under-painting floor. This painting took about four hours to complete: an unusually short time for me.

Beach Painting: "Morning Calm"

"Morning Calm" (Bethany Beach--7 am)
1995, oil and sand, 12”x15”
In the collection of Ralph and Barbara Mecham, Potomac, Maryland

At 7am my sister Shara and I began painting the surf in Bethany Beach, Maryland, as the sun peeked above the horizon. The breeze gently gathered fine sand and deposited it on our paints and canvas, giving extra authenticity to the product. This artistic moment together became an unforgettable event for my sister and me.

Painting of Children: "Getting Her Feet Wet"

2007, oil on canvas, 16”x 20”

The little flower girl headed straight to the creek after my nephew’s wedding on a cattle ranch in Montana. Since I always have camera--will travel, I kept snapping until a look I wanted presented itself. I would paint children from life but they only stay still a nanosecond. In this painting I had to decide where I wanted her to look: at the bank--suggesting unsureness; far ahead--possibly suggesting dangerous risk-taking; or just ahead of her feet--implying that she would be careful and steady as she tests the waters.

"Little White House"

1994, acrylic on canvas; 11”x 14”.
In the private collection of Joy Torelli, Maryland.

The Little White House was painted on location in the charming town of Glen Echo, Maryland. The sunny porch, open door and three plastic chairs suggest a homey, welcoming atmosphere to this humble home. Simple lines, rock steps and untended flowers and shrubs reveal that you have found a retreat from glamour and expectations. A window within proves the three-dimensionality of a cozy home where you might enjoy the smells of a wood fire or homemade bread. Come sit a spell with me. Put your feet up on the railing and relax.