Several years ago I was introduced to an amazing new way of painting portraits and figures. It was based in the very best methods of the old masters but had been brought up to date with advanced materials as well as using a tool that was not available to the old masters...photographs. Yes, I know that there are some who equate making art with an athletic contest with its book of rules. The reality is, one cannot cheat at art because art has no published rulebook. Great masters like Vermeer, used optical devices. If it was good enough for him it should be good enough for all of us.

Miss Valarie Welpton, oil on linen, 40" x 26"

Using photos is only part of the story. This method will enable you to paint difficult pictures, accurately and with incredible speed. It is based on the well-proved concept that the most convincing realism is largely based on a majority of soft edges with only the occasional hard edge. One has only to look at Masters like Vermeer and Rembrandt to realize that their uncanny portrayal of depth was based on soft edges with only the infrequent sharp edge to move the pictorial space forward. Most amateurish work shows an overabundance of hard edges. Because of those unrelenting hard edges the result is always flat and stiff.

In studying the Great Masters we found that rather than diluting their paint with painting medium (as we were taught in art school) they used their painting mediums as lubricants to aid painting with full-bodied paint. This allowed them to apply much richer colors than if they had diluted their paint. Because there was very little medium to crack or darken, their method also produced archivally permanent painting. Masters like Rubens would apply a thin layer of painting medium to the surface and proceed to rapidly block in the main areas of color, after which the paint was ‘laid off’ with a large brush which served to unify the surface and soften the edges (often the dry surface was scraped of its high spots, a procedure done in the initial blocking-in, or ébauche).

Once that initial paint layer had dried, the surface was again coated with a thin layer of painting medium. Smaller, more delineated, areas were painted and, once again, softened with a brush. This time a smaller brush was used and the softening was not so great as in the ébauche. At this stage the picture had already taken on considerable depth. The surface was allowed to dry and the process was then continued with subsequent areas growing smaller and more detailed until, at the very last, the sharpest details and highlights were laid in. Very few sharp deatails were needed in order to create a feeling of depth and realism.

For centuries, this was the most common method of producing a painting. Then it was discarded by the Impressionists who derisively referred to the method as “painting into the soup.” So with the bath water of a sclerotic academy, the Impressionists also threw out the baby...in this case, a well-proved method was thrown away.

Drawing and structure suffer when we concentrate on one area rather than on the whole. If we could learn to simplify the subject we could more easily concentrate on shape, color and form.

Some years later the deficiencies of the alla prima approach became apparent to any artists who wanted to produce a more finished painting and careful students of history revived “painting into the soup.” Even TV artists such as Bill Alexander demonstrated a limited version of it with his wet-into-wet method. But, because of his opaque “Magic White,” his method does not allow for a second or third coat to be worked into the wet.

This method has been kept alive by those of us who studied and copied the Old Masters' method (brushing on the appropriate medium and working into it). This method worked and still works, but artists being what they are do not remain satisfied for long. What came about was a method utilizing modern equipment such as slide projectors and atomizers. The results speak for themselves. The method is fast...very fast, and the artist feels completely in control at all stages.

Here’s how it works:

Every artist faces the same dilemma when they begin to paint from nature or a photograph. They are overwhelmed with the myriad details. Drawing and structure suffer when we concentrate on one area rather than the whole. If we could learn to simplify the subject we could more easily concentrate on shape, color and form. We try to train ourselves to draw what we see but still; the details can crowd out the structure. However, by simply throwing our eyes out of focus, all we see are large abstract shapes and areas of color. Those shapes are easy to paint.

This is a visual representation of how I project an image from behind onto a sheet of tracing paper stretched on strips of wood which are attached to the top and bottom of my canvas. With the tracing paper screen next to my canvas I then throw the image out of focus. Then I simply paint what I see. Because the reference image is right next to my easel, I can easily refer to it for shape and tone. By painting an out-of-focus image, my job is greatly simplified. All I have to concentrate on are the large areas of color and the shape.

Before I start painting, I spray the canvas with a coating of spray painting medium. This provides a thin layer of painting medium which acts as a lubricant for the paint that follows. Using undiluted paint, straight from the tube, I block in the entire painting. Because my visual reference is out-of-focus, the shapes are simplified and very easy to apply accurately. Once blocked in, I use a fan-shaped bristle blender to fuse the edges and make it appear as soft and out-of-focus as the projected slide. It's simple. It's fast and it takes care of the hardest part of the painting...the ébauche.

After that layer of paint has been allowed to dry you will notice that, because of the feathering with the bristle fan brush, the surface is uniform and without defect. After the surface dries, I refocus the projector and begin to bring it into a bit sharper focus. It's still soft but now you can begin to see definite shapes...the nose, eyes and the general shapes of fingers, etc. Again I spray the surface with the painting medium and paint what I see. It's easy at this point because the underlying paint acts as a guide. You'll notice that I still haven’t done any drawing and, because this is all paint with no underlying drawing, the picture is much more solid looking. I blend the forms with a smaller and softer badger-hair fan brush, not softening it as much as I did on the first layer. The picture doesn't have the problems we usually see when trying to paint to the drawn line (as a child does with a coloring book).

The picture now resembles the somewhat out-of-focus photo. Again, I allow it to dry overnight.

Now I focus the projector until it is almost in focus. Tiny details like wrinkles and wisps of hair are still a bit out of focus but most of the details can be seen. Being slightly out-of-focus helps me see the solid form without being distracted by the inconsequential details. I spray a bit less medium on the painting than I used in the previous two layers.

Now, using smaller brushes, I knock in details that build the form and make it solid. Using a small badger hair fan brush I soften the occasional edge, leaving other edges sharp. After the details are painted in, I focus as sharp as possible and select a few areas that require a sharp, crisp stroke. The catchlights in the eyes are now applied, as are sharp highlights in jewelry. By dipping just the tips of a bristle fan brush in paint, I can hit a wisp of a stroke that will lay in the sharp highlights on hair. The bristles skip over the surface creating a life-like shimmer. It’s an amazing effect and very easy to do.

The picture is now finished. The effect is one of deep, rich paint because we haven't diluted the paint and the surface is flawless. Each layer is properly constructed and the thin layers of properly applied painting medium guarantee that the picture will not crack or yellow and will easily outlive us.

Detail showing soft edges with the occasional hard edge