Facial Planes Study: Portraiture

Today I did a study of Frederic Fiebig‘s 1905 Self Portrait, primarily because I am currently interested in facial planes on my portrait painting journey. I did not try to replicate his palette (and still have lots to learn on colour mixing) so the colours are different.

I ended up with a sharp-edged result, (much like his) which I then proceeded to soften. I think that was probably a mistake, but hey I am engaging in experimentation so all is not lost. Which version do you prefer? I think I prefer the hard-edged one.

I prepared my small canvas with black gesso before applying oil paints. Working on a non-white ground really does create a different effect and also helps to eliminate the ‘white canvas intimidation’ that so many of us face.

A copy of Fiebig’s 1905 painting directly below:

Frederic Fiebig. 1905. Self Portrait. Oil on cardboard.

My hard-edged version below:

And my soft-edged version:

Anndelize Graf. 2018. Fiebig Study. Oil on canvas. 8 x 10 inches.

Thanks for joining me on my portrait painting journey. I hope you will return soon to see what I attempt next as I work at improving my portraiture skills.

Have a creative weekend all. 🙂

I am a member of blogging communities, you will find my posts here too:
https://guestdailyposts.wordpress.com/guest-pingbacks/
https://plus.google.com/u/2/communities/103525137929319878376