Drawing Rembrandt - A study in 4 colour chalk - Original content for Steemit
![rem_thumb.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmTazmpHCbgg2XWH8CiW6UjSMpTAPh7xZ7SCuE2Ftuh31K/rem_thumb.jpg)
This weekend i attempted a portrait of Rembrandt using 4 colour Pastel Chalk. I always like to try and push my skills and the tools i use to combine new materials with old techniques. Here's what i came up with, i hope you enjoy my post! Thanks.
To begin, i started with Arches Aquarelle Cotton paper in Hot Press (smooth). This was paper i had previously prepared for oil painting by giving it a few coats of white gesso primer, then adding a Rose Grey gesso primer. By painting each layer horizontally, then vertically and back and forth a few times, you can get a nice canvas style grain which allows the paint - or in this case the chalk to stick. Here's a break down of the drawing process:
I used General's MultiPastel chalk pencils in Sanguine (red), Burnt Sienna (yellow), Van Dyke Brown (light brown), Black & White.
This is a very similar palette to what Rembrandt would often paint with. He would mostly use earth colours in a simple palette when painting his portraits simply because bold colours like blues & greens were very toxic and expensive to create back in his day - circa 1650's. He would sometimes use those colours in a commissioned painting but in his self portraits he would usually stick to basic earth tones that where easy to mix and which could convey a full range of light and shadow.
In this image you can see how the pastel chalk sits on top of the paper. It is very easy to move around and layer but also very easy to smudge and spoil. Being right handed, i had to move across the image left to right to make sure i didn't smudge it.
And here is the final piece. Drawing Rembrandt is something i think every portrait artist should try. You'll learn so much about forms and light by following his mastery. He had a very simple technique when you break it down but it was performed at such masterful levels that it takes decades to achieve that level of simplicity. All we can do is keep practising and learning ourselves and with each attempt, try and take something new to the next effort.
Tools Used
- Art Spectrum Colourfix Primer in Rose Grey
- General's MultiPastel Chalk Pencils in:
Black, White, Burnt Sienna, Van Dyke Brown, Sanguine.
- Staedtler Mars Rasor rubber pencil
- Paper stump
Thank You
Thank you for reading my post, i hope you like it. If you can vote, re-steem, follow and all those good things i'd really appreciate it!
Amazing art work
Thank you for the re-steem @crisgojar - i really appreciate the support.
Your welcome @groundcontrol
You've given such a good and thorough explanation of your creative process, plus your drawing was rendered quite well I might add. You deserve that $276.16 upvote! Keep up the great artwork groundcontrol! Upvoted and following you and your beautiful artwork on steemit!
Thank you @jamie-smith - it's a wonderful surprise to come back to a post with such a high value after going to bed when it was at .90c after and hour thinking it was going to get lost in the Steemit tide!
It gives me drive to continue and push myself to get better. Steemit has been a great motivator, i look forward to making more work.
Keep going like this, and you won't have to sell the originals. ;-)
Haha, wouldn't that be the dream!
good job.
consider listing it or other artworks on www.steemarket.com, if you want to sell them for SBD :)
Oh I didn't know such a thing!! Great!
Thank you @paolobeneforti i hope to get something on www.steemarket.com in the future. It's a great initiative for Steemit artists out there.
I launched a new art contest too ;) https://steemit.com/art/@paolobeneforti/a-new-art-contest-for-steemian-artists-steemarket-art-contest
I tried that url- it doesn't resolve.
really? http://www.steemarket.com/
It worked when I typed in the url, but didn't copy or link right- ah, the vagaries of the browser...
I do not do visual art, but have many old (and young) friends who do. Some are astonishing in their talent and capability.
Wow. Seriously, just wow.
Has Rembrandt been a big inspiration for you? I notice you have a similar "feel" to your style... maybe it's the use of hilights..?
Really, I'm in awe.
Thank you @offbeatbroad - yeah i really love Rembrandt, he's the master of light. I'm still trying to work out what my style is. I want to work on refining down to a 'less is more' style rather than a full photorealistic rendering and Rembrandt was a master of this. Capturing light is what gives an image life in my opinion, especially in portraits. Everything we see is just a reflection of light bouncing off a form and into our eyes, so trying to draw/paint with that in mind is the style i'm working towards.
Excellent work @groundcontrol! This portrait Rembandt did of himself, to me, always looks a bit sad, wistful, tired. It says much. I think you have done a good job of conveying the same feeling as the original.
I noticed your bottle of Art Spectrum Colourfix Primer. I was going to ask, but then noticed you are #teamaustralia. Art Spectrum was always a favourite brand of mine. I bought a few more tubes of oils when I was back in 2015.
Upvoted and resteemed.
Thanks @leoplaw - As Rembrandt got older and his eyes got worse, his style become a lot more loose and rough but he never lost the ability to make his paintings glow. This one feels like he's trying to push it even further with the way he raised his eyebrows. He's old, he's tired but he still pushes himself.
I only recently discovered Colourfix primer. I was actually watching some old Bob Ross and he uses the clear gesso and it made me think there must be something like that at the art store. I figured a clear gesso would work well for securing a transfer drawing before painting - never really felt comfortable using fixative spray for that as some painters do. Colourfix have a clear which works really well - but then i saw they had colours as well so got a few tubs to try out. #teamaustralia
Thank you for the re-steem!
Monet's eyesight deteriorated markedly in his old age. But this water lily period is the one he is most famous for. But I guess it was also fortunate for him that this coincided with the Impressionist period. So, we as visual artists are indeed very fortunate that our careers can continue right up until we drop. Heck, I even saw a video about blind painter. He became legally blind in his 30's and then at some point was totally blind. Now in his 70's he's still busy and selling.
How do you apply the clear gesso to pastels? Won't you disturb/smudge them?
Oh, i meant the clear works well for sealing transfer drawings prior to oil painting. I don't know if you start with a drawing or fix it before you paint but some oil artists will draw their transfer drawing with charcoal and then spray it down with fixative. Not sure from a conservation perspective if that will be seen as having been a good idea a 100 years from now?
The pastel on the other hand needs a spray after the fact, i haven't sprayed this one yet because i reckon it'll compress it a bit and lose colour. Suppose i could touch it up thou.
I have to remind myself to squit to 'spoil' my eye sight in order to not get lost in detail, i guess at some point as i get old it will do it naturally, then i'll be squiting to try and improve it!
This is absolutely incredible work. I love pastels - they are one of my favorite mediums. I love the pastel pencils too - you can get such amazing control. You captured this master brilliantly - voted resteemed and following :)
Thank you @j-vo - yeah i really love charcoal and pastel chalk, it's very versatile and suits the style i'm developing.
I'm still on my first pack of General's but i'm loving them so far.
Thank you for the resteem & follow! :)
only a true master can paint something magnificent like this :)
Thank you @zephyraijunzo for the re-steem, i really appreciate it.
Upvoted & resteemed
Thank you for the vote & re-steem, appreciated!
damn
awesome painting
so nice to see some great talents on steemit
thanks for sharing and keep up the hard work
Thank you, yeah steemit is a great outlet for artists, there's nothing really like it - unless your happy with just getting 'likes' and watching as advertisers make money off your efforts!
Amazing post! Keep sharing like this in order to provides us more infomation about painting and those exceptional combinations people can use. Congrat @groundcontrol
Thank you @paolasofy25 i will keep trying to help where i can in sharing what i have learnt.