Step 9

I did a couple more hours on this today. It's been awhile since I worked on it because not only have I been very busy but also because it was taking a long time to not just dry but to set up at all. By adding clove oil to my linseed oil (just a drop) it delayed drying much too long. Even today, some areas where I tried to layer colour, it just lifted the bottom layer. I went back to just linseed oil. I would rather have it dry too fast than too slow.

Today I started on the eyes again and some of the face tones. I've been trying to put in detail in the more finished eye that I couldn't see in the reference photo because it was hidden by glare in the glasses. I realized I didn't have to put in the detail under the glare, just paint what I see. So I put in the first layer of the glare on one side. I also worked a little on the mouth and teeth.

Step 8

This morning I worked on the fabric around the neck and a little on the neck itself. Not a lot done today but at least I did some. Life keeps getting in the way of my painting.

Step 7

Another couple of hours done on this today. I was going to work on the face but it was still too wet. I have to learn how much medium to put in to get it to dry when I want it too. So, instead, I worked on the clothing. It isn't finished but the main colours are mostly blocked in. I can see now that a source of frustration is going to be the black zipper on the vest (where the yellow line is right now). The other mistake I made was making it so big as my first big portrait in oils. I have to keep stepping back to see if the folds are making sense and my studio isn't big enough. I will keep trying though.

Step 6

A couple more hours painting on this today. I concentrated on the right eye blocking in the colour matching it with the reference image. It is going to be difficult in some areas because there is a glare on the glasses hiding some of the details that I'll have to duplicate.

I also repainted the background and corrected his outer hairline. I think the background will be left like that until the rest is finished and I decide if it needs any adjustments.

The yellow on his face is still just the undercoating but I know it's distracting. I can't cover it yet or it would get rid of my reference lines I will need later.

Step 5

I'm finally going ahead with this painting. I found the painting wasn't looking very much like my brother-in-law so I had to think about it for awhile. After a big sigh I realized that I needed to move the mouth and both eyes. It was frustrating so I procrastinated a few days. For all you knitters out there, it was like having to unravel half your work when you discover a major mistake. You don't feel like sitting down to re-do all your work right away. LOL. I finally redrew the features and today I had to paint over the old eyes and mouth and went ahead starting to block in some skin tones on the face. The results are pretty basic since it is just back to the first steps but at least now it looks like him. Yay. The yellow areas are still the toned board underneath where there is no paint.

I also have finally figured out my work space for oil painting since my watercolour set up didn't work. What I'm finding annoying right now is the time to set up and put away supplies after each session. I was spoiled by watercolour where you can just rinse your brush and walk away. I'm learning every day but I won't give up on oils until I've done quite a few to see if oil painting is what I want to go ahead with.

Step 4

I am finally back to painting after a few days break. I wasn't lazy though, I was watching hours of instructional videos on how to paint with oils. I felt I wasn't getting the idea just trying it on my own. A big problem was glare on the painting while working and the videos helped me identify what the problem was. A light source (a window in my case) directly behind me made the glare. I've rearranged my studio so the light is coming from the side and no more problems with glare.

I wanted to start covering large areas of the canvas next with a middle value before I went back to the face. There are no details yet or shading but the canvas is covered. I can see now the grey background needs to be lightened as well. The yellow lines in the vest are where fold lines are and I didn't want to lose the lines by painting over them. Here is today's efforts. The whitish area on the right background is glare and not there in real life.

Step 3

I am still struggling with switching to another medium. I know how to make watercolours do what I want but oil paints are so thick and dry compared to them. Also, I find the pigments are not the same (at least I'm not familiar enough with them yet). So today I worked some more on the eye and started blocking in some of the darkest colours on the face. Whoever said that oils dry slowly so you have lots of time to blend wasn't using mine. Yesterday's work was almost dry to touch so it made it hard to put another layer on. I'm watching You Tube videos for tips on working in oils.