Light Flesh Tones

[Timothy C. Tyler]

Enzie, there are key spots that I look for in paintings. You'll note this with other painters' work...Sargent is a good one. Note how the color at the edge of the lower lip in the shadow fades away into the skin tones just below...very softly.

Another point you'll want to think on is that be careful that you don't get the key (Or intensity) too high in stuff like the headdress. It would be helpful to see the Sargent you ref.-I expect there is less chroma in his work in places like the dress and hat. Light unifies stuff and he painted sight-size from life.

These are delicate things, and to quote Sargent, "In the really delicate passages one must work really hard to get those right.". (That's very loosely quoted.)

[Enzie Shahmiri]

Dear Tim,

Thank you for your kind observations. The Sargent painting that influenced my color choice was actually a landscape painting. It showed a building by the canal in Venice.

I have no reference for this piece since it is all my own creation. You are absolutely right though, the flowers have to be toned down and the corner of the mouth should blend into the skin. I also noticed that her rib cage is off and needs correcting. It always amazes me how the errors make themselves known, once you look at the work on-line. Since I had originally posted this thread, I have been working on the face and wonder if her skin is less pasty looking now?

[Timothy C. Tyler]

They are not pasty. In my work, my skin goes from too intense to too dull, back and forth until I feel I get the correct color. Those non-flesh things around the skin are great to judge against. As the work is coming together, you will find you have a part here and there that is spot on. Leave that and compare the other passages against that.

At this point in your work, I'd adjust the "other" stuff then come back to the flesh and knock it back a bit.

[Richard Budig]

Chris:

I

[Chris Saper]

Richard, I should think it would do just fine

[Mary Reilly]

I just happened upon this thread, and eventhough it has been a month since the last entry, I couldn't resist adding my two cents.

I agree with using the cerulean blue to tone down the reds. I also like mixing cerulean and cadmium red light together with white for the whites of the eyes.

Another color that I like for toning down the reds is a little chromium oxide green. It has weak tinting strength which makes it great to temper those reds without taking over.

Mary

[Enzie Shahmiri]

Thanks Tim, I will follow your advice and see how that makes the overall look change.

[Richard Budig]

Enzie:

Something else to remember is that as colors (flesh tone, also) lighten, they lose color.

Take any color on your palette from weak to brilliant, or take all your brilliant colors and lighten them with white to a value of, say, two or three. You'll discover they almost all look the same -- washed out, pasty, and cool.

Your real "color" will be over there in the halftones, and even in the shadows. Lights will have a bit of color, too, but the lighter lights, and highlights will usually be "colorless," so to speak.

[Enzie Shahmiri]

Hi Richard,

Thank you for your reply. Since I have posted this thread, my life has taken me in all directions and has left me with very little time to paint.

I am happy to say that 2005 has put me back in the studio and we shall see with all these wonderful suggestions how the next work will turn out.

Currently I am finishing a painting ala Gerome of a black fighter. The work in progress is on my web site.

[Enzie Shahmiri]

I have never tried Cerulean Blue or Thalo Yellow Green and it would be interesting to experiment with it.

I have tried this approach with good results. Peggy Baumgaertner suggested to use Rembrandt