DEMONSTRATION
Adding Color
In order to paint fat over lean, I add an equal amount of oil painting medium to each of the colors on my palette. I have these mediums premixed in small jars and labelled for the layer in which I will use them. Each contains a combination of Triple Rectified Turpentine, Linseed Oil, and Damar Varnish. As stated earlier, the imprimatura is applied only with turpentine. The next layer is blended with a medium of 5 parts turpentine, 1 part stand oil (linseed), and 1 part Damar varnish. This would be the blue layer of my painting. The first layer of color, as shown below, would then be mixed with a medium consisting of 3 parts turpentine to 1 part stand oil to 1 part Damar. The third layer is mixed with the same ingredients in a ratio of 1:1:1, and the last touches are blended with a 1:1 ratio of linseed oil and Damar varnish without turpentine, if final adjustments are needed.
Some authors advise against adding Damar varnish into painting mediums because it can be redesolved with turpentine after it dries and may cause problems with future cleaning. As a rule, the more simple you can keep your medium, the better. A mix of turpentine and linseed oil is acceptable.
At this stage I have painted the girls skin tones using my earthtones: burnt sienna, raw sienna, burnt umber, and yellow ochre with white. The paints are applied thinly to allow the blue to show through, especially in areas where the skin is thin and / or the arteries show through. You will notice this at the temples, under the eyes and around the mouth as well as untanned areas of the armes and legs, and in the hands and feet.
The background was then painted in softly and simply with little value contrast and few value variations. The marigolds, for instance, are painted as single splotches of raw sienna. By allowing the blue to show through the trees in the background, the underpainting is used to unify the entire picture.
The gaps between bricks in the walkway have been darkened using a thin wash of burnt umber.
