When I read this post, I thought about when I was learning to paint portraits from one of the best around here. (He has since passed on, but I learned a lot from him over the years I studied with him.) I wished I could remember what he taught me when I was working on the portrait of my husband. I knew I had written it down, but that was a long time ago. Who knows where I put things?

I've been trying to clean and organize my computer room today. I was going through some files and trying to throw stuff out. I swear if I looked for this piece of paper, I wouldn't have found it. I couldn't believe that it was in a folder of important papers I had buried in a file drawer and that I just happened to come across it today. So, it must have been meant for me to share this piece of knowledge I learned from Kenneth Hurwitz. Here is what I had written down during one of my lessons:

Portrait Technique

Underpainting of gray/blue
Use a wash of blue/black/white

(we always used a wash. Never painted on a blank canvas.)

Start flesh on wet underpainting

Flesh colors

cad. red light - yellow ochre - white
or
cad red light - naples yellow & white

Paint on flesh, then build up and soften shadows.

If suject has a lot of dark shadows, put them in first.

I haven't painted in about 6 or 7 years. I would never have remembered this.