Tonal study on a dark ground

I did the exercise in a life drawing workshop, which started with short poses, and for the portrait I had a 3-hour session.

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Before the workshop I prepared an A2 canvas board at home with a wash of grey acrylic paint, and chose grey because of my recollection of a Michelangelo unfinished painting known as ‘The Manchester Madonna” in the National Gallery in London.

I was intrigued not only by the fact that the painting was unfinished, but also by it’s name, which evidently arose because it first appeared in Manchester in 1857. It shows the Virgin, Christ, John the Baptist, two angels and two unfinished female figures with grey underpainting for the flesh areas, illustrating Michelangelo’s use of grey to achieve skin colours.

I used neat Water Mixable Oil (WMO), and found that although the paint was not very fluid it was better on a canvas with an acrylic wash than one done for a previous exercise which did not have a preparatory wash. I also found using WMO over a grey wash to be a huge advantage as the transparency of the WMO allowed the grey to come through making it much easier and quicker to achieve skin tone rather than trying to mix colours.

I’m happy with the result and the likeness and expression I achieved – and was particularly pleased when someone who had previously seen that model in another class recognised him right away. I found it much easier to incorporate grey in skin tones and will keep exploring the method for future portraits.