Gouache Portrait Using the Zorn Palette

Extended sample from the full length video tutorial “Color in Practice: Black, White, and Complements,“ available at the following links: GUMROAD (HD download or lifetime streaming): SELLFY (HD download): CUBEBRUSH (HD download): DVD: By adding a bright red and a couple of dull yellows to black and white, you can paint with the appearance of full color. This palette of colors is often associated with Swedish painter Anders Zorn—though in his case he often used plenty of blues and greens and other colors as well. For this location sketch, I paint the raw sienna underpainting in advance with casein, but you could use acrylic-gouache, or gouache mixed with some acrylic matte medium for the underpainting. The underpainting gives me a base to work over. On location, I start by drawing the main perspective lines with a brush, showing the edge of the counter and the vertical column. I cover most of the underpainting with semi-opaque layers of gray mixed from white and black. I look for big gradations, which I apply with layers of black and white. I paint the computer first because it’s so important. But that means that in order to paint the objects behind it I have to paint them around it. Greg arrives at his workstation. I say, “You don’t have to hold still. I’ll just paint you while you’re working.” With gouache I can opaquely cover those background areas that I had already defined. I add the tiny final accents in bright red. COLORS I USED Titanium white (gouache): Raw sienna: Yellow ochre: Light red, English red, or Venetian red: Pyrrol red (gouache): Ivory black: BRUSHES AND OTHER ART SUPPLIES Richeson travel brush set: Richeson “Grey Matters” brush set: Goat hair mop: Water cup: Pentalic watercolor sketchbook: Cotton rag (a clean, discarded t-shirt, towel, or cloth diaper will do) ADDITIONAL PAINT SETS YOU MAY WANT TO TRY • Richeson casein set: • M. Graham gouache primary set: • Winsor & Newton gouache primary set: • Holbein gouache set: • Royal Talens gouache set (8 colors): • Shinhan Pass watercolor/gouache hybrid set: • Holbein Acryla Gouache (really matte acrylic): BOOKS BY JAMES GURNEY: Color and Light: A Guide for Realist Painters: Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn’t Exist: Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time: OTHER OFFICIAL SITES Instagram: Pinterest: GurneyJourney Blog: JamesGurney Website: Facebook group “Color in Practice“ Facebook group “Sketch Easel Builders“