Oil Painting Medic

Very dark skin such as African skin, Aborigine or Jamaican skin colours can challenge the artist who normally paints Caucasian skin in portraiture. This is because the colour ratios of pigments shift radically between pale skin and black skin. I took note of the colours I used and the ratios needed to capture the skin colours within a figure in Rossetti’s The Beloved (see picture). I found that extreme contrasts in tone and colours are needed. A diffident approach is not ideal, but an honest more daring approach. The Colours Used for Black Skin After Rossetti's The Beloved (Rachel Shirley) How to Paint Black Skin Tones The secret of painting a portrait of a black person is to dispel all assumptions about how a black person ‘should’ look and to treat the portrait as the first of its kind. Take an honest look at the colours on the skin and how it shifts from one area to another. When painting The Beloved, I noticed how the colour shifts between brow and chin, from warm brown...

An otherwise satisfactory painting of buildings within a village study or city scene could be ruined by poorly painted detail on the buildings, most often doors and windows. How can the artist depict such features on buildings without the headache of the angles looking wrong? Painting Problems with Windows and Doors How to Paint Buildings Rachel Shirley The artist may go to great lengths over brickwork, roof tiles or gables, as well as the perspective of buildings in a painting. Sadly, the windows and doors do not convince, appearing as dark rectangles that lack depth or perspective. The following issues may cause windows and doors on a painting to draw the eye for the wrong reasons. Treating windows as a separate entity to the building itself, resulting in an impression of windows that do not belong to the same space. Viewing windows and doors as mere rectangular forms, using the same brush marks and colours throughout, creating a regimented arrangement without truth. M...

Painting fire presents challenges in what pigments and art techniques to use for its ethereal quality. In truth not all flames are merely red or yellow or appear solid. What are the best colours to capture a scene featuring a fire in art? Problems with Painting Fire The notion that fire is merely a bright colour can result in a childish depiction of flames in a painting. Bonfires, candlelight and a log fire will all appear different. The following painting practices can result in an unconvincing portrayal of fire. How to Paint Fire Rachel Shirley Reaching for any red or yellow colour to express the colour of flames, regardless of how it actually looks Treating fire as a solid entity with opaque colours. Giving harsh outlines to the fire, resulting in a cardboard cutout impression of fire An insistence to make fire stand out within a daytime scene, even though the flames may not actually appear so bright in context, resulting in an overly garish impression of fire. ...