Alla Prima Self-Portrait...using a Sargent approach...by Larry Seiler

I've been pretty hyped up reading thru my various
painting methods books, particularly on Sargent
and his scraping back practice on portraits sometimes
to fix errors...but frequently to create a film stain
that works its way into the ground, and then other
subsequent scrapings to build up a particular quality
in the flesh tones.

Sargent was known to also demonstrate his alla prima
methods to art students as well, though he wasn't
particularly fond of teaching being shy and not too
articulate.

One method he taught was blocking the portrait face
in with a midvalue flesh tone...and then painting the
darker values/color and lighter directly into the wet
paint or wet into wet.

Now...this reminded me of a method I use to paint
plein air landscapes which I call the midgray neutral
mud palette. A version of the pigment soup or mother
color approach.

Thinking the portrait much as a landscape of the face,
reading about Sargent's midvalue flesh tone suddenly
clicked in my mind...and I had to paint a study. To
this end...I simply grabbed a picture my wife took of
me having returned successful from an outdoor venture.

...a closeup of the face-
























You can see steps of this work demonstrated more
thoroughly by visiting my blogspot- Painting From Life!