Painting blond hair in oil

[Chris Saper]

If the background will vary in any material way from the toned canvas, either in color or value, I put it in first. I find I cannot make good judgments about color, temperature or value out of context. The green on my palette is Pthalo green, which is a wild, staining color, so I'll usually give it a day to dry a little before placing overlying or adjacent color. I'll usually paint a little inside where I think the silhouette will be, in order to set up the outside hair edges.

Same thing with the skin color: by placing initial areas of color, I can make comparative choices about hue and value of hair at the hairline, and also will be prepared to create soft hairline edges.