Ron. Portrait. Acrylic on canvas 17″ x 22″

I originally took 18 photos of the painting progression but whittled it down to the 8 shown here.

Painted using a limited palette of 3 colours: Ivory Black, Yellow Ochre, and Burnt Sienna. (+white.)

For a ‘life size’ portrait I’ve discovered the corner of the eye to corner of the mouth is a critical measurement and should be fixed early on in the painting. This in most cases is a maximum measurement of 2 3/4 ” (7 cm). I prefer to paint the head slightly smaller than life size plus there’s nothing worse than a portrait where the head is just slightly too big and so I reduce this measurement to 2 1/2 ” (6.5 cm) for male adults to be on the safe side, this measurement will often be slightly smaller on a female portrait and a lot smaller for a child, also if the model/subject is smiling this will also reduce this measurement.

Above: Portrait of Ronald Chappell. Painted in oils.