Marvin Mattelson Portrait Demonstration in The Artist's Magazine

The April 2012 issue of The Artist's Magazine features an article on Marvin Mattelson's layered method for creating an oil portrait from life.  On the Artist's Network, a portion of that article (included below) shows the progression of a demonstration Mattelson gave during one of his recent workshops.  Please visit the Artist's Network for links to related media, and to read Holly Davis' full article on Mattelson's methods, the print and digital version are available for ordering at the North Light Shop.

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Layers of a Portrait 
by Marvin Mattelson

I painted Karen demo (at bottom; oil, 18×14) from life as a workshop demonstration piece. Although I prefer painting from life, due to time restraints, workshop pieces are never as refined as commissioned portraits; however I use the same basic process for both.

1. Transparent Underpainting

I always start my portraits with a raw umber imprimatura (transparent underpainting). The value of the tone is always equivalent to the shadow value on the model or the subject. For a simple painting, such as this head-and-shoulder piece, I scratch a drawing with a tortillon into the umber tone.

2. Remove the Lights

Then I remove the lights with a rag and add paint with a brush for the darks. For more complex compositions, I build up the image with very thin paint, using more of a watercolor type of technique. In either case, the point is to establish the drawing, composition, edges and values.

3. Add Color

The next layer is where I first address color, opaquely blocking in the local colors and modeling the values of the larger forms. At this point, I don’t try to finish anything or put in any detail. My focus is on establishing the big color relationships. I’ll smooth out the patchiness later.

4. Restore the Luster

For the ensuing layers, I oil out the area to be painted with Natural Pigments Oleogel. This helps restore the luster and value of wet oil, which often dulls after it dries. Then I scumble (apply a thin layer of translucent paint) into the wet Oleogel, adjusting color to unify each area. I then paint into the wet scumble to modify the subtle hue, value and chroma shifts.

5. Building Layers

The number of layers depends on the degree of translucency or refinement I desire. Skin is made up of translucent layers, and my scumbling puts translucent layers over what was there before. This technique was used by 19th-century artist William-Adolphe Bouguereau. In my portraits, a typical finished head will have between four and six layers, while background areas may have just one or two.

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Additional examples of Mattelson's classroom teaching demonstrations can be viewed on his website, and a description of his palette can be read here, in an earlier Underpaintings post.

Moira:  Class Demo from Life