Lorna A Roberts

In my ’52 Portraits in 52 Weeks’ challenge, I’ve just started number 13. 11 and 12 are WIP (works in progress) due to working in oils, and the extra drying time.

Portrait 13 is taken from a photo from Unsplash of a young gentleman with ginger hair. He has a serious expression on his face and a pale complexion.

I’ve done the first layer. It’s in pure oil paint. I’ve tried to keep it as flat as possible but haven’t totally succeeded. It only took an hour, which may be an issue in itself…But I can’t manage any more at a sitting and I think any more disturbing the surface of the paint and I’m looking at mud!

Here’s the evidence of the work so far:

So, yes, there’s a heck of a lot of work to do. The second layer will have a bit of added walnut oil. If a third layer is required, it’ll have even more walnut oil, but no more than a quarter of the volume of the oil paint or it’ll just be an oily, never drying mess.

Portrait 14 is also going to be started tomorrow. Exciting…