Patt:
Per your request, what follows is the technique I use to paint. It is just one method of painting, but it works great for me. It was taught to me by Frank Covino whose teaching I highly recommend to anyone interested in classical realism with an old master touch. His website is
www.portrait-art.com. Frank is 70 this year, so catch him while you still can. I cannot say enough about what he and his knowledge have done for my work.
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I do a complete charcoal rendering of the form - this establishes the cartoon and serves as the first blush for the values, and the map for the underpainting. I fix the charcoal with retouch varnish.
Next, I do a complete monochromatic underpainting over the charcoal. I usually use a grisaille/verdaccio combination. I do use an alkyd medium during the underpainting as I want it to be rock hard dry before I start applying dead color. I take the underpainting to as finished a state and as much detail as I can. Spray with Damar Retouch Varnish to bring the values up when done.
Next I begin my dead color stage. I glaze first - things that can be glazed - clothes, backgrounds, foliage, hair, etc. I use the following medium:
5 parts Damar Varnish
5 parts Rectified Turpentine
3 parts Stand Oil
1 part Venice Turpentine
For opaque passages of the painting, I use this medium and spray it on (PreVal sprayer at HW store $5 bucks) and then paint into it. For finishing touches and high detail, I use the medium I told you about previously as it stays open longer than the above medium does.
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From further reading of your posts, it sounds like parts of your painting are "sinking in". You will get that a lot with colors like umbers - they just seem to absorb the oil and look dull on the painting in comparison to other areas. If you rub a small amount of your medium into them, it should bring them back up.
Hope that helps.
