Rachel-Progressions of Portrait by Texas Contemporary Artist Vonnie Kohn

Well, I'm back at the easel again with Rachel. When considering a portrait, the skin tones usually dictate the background color. Rachel's skin tones have a delicate pale blue in the shadows with very fair skin. She has hazel eyes with naturally blond hair. A pale lose background in greens seem to enhance all of her features. I loosely painted the background in an impressionistic manner.

The jacket was painted in undertones of alizarin crimson & ultramarine blue to give a little warmth to the dark jacket. If I had painted the jacket straight black, it would have looked like a "black hole" instead of being rich with deep tones.

Notice that her eyes were not painted "white" at this point. When observing a person's eyes, the eyeball is not always pure white. They are also luminous with reflected color!

The "Eyes" have it! Rachel now has eyes. I am still modifying by overlaying layers of shadows and deepening values in the skin tones. The jacket has undergone more layers with additional glazes. Next week...the finished project!