plate no. 2305

Kalounna in Frogtown

Jamie Wyeth, 1986

oil, masoniteContemporary Realismportraitportraitfiguretruckhouselandscapesky

some experience helpful

Recreating this painting will help students develop skills in portraiture, including capturing likeness and rendering skin tones, as well as understanding atmospheric perspective and creating depth in a landscape.

technical profile

palette complexity

brushwork visibility

value contrast

compositional simplicity

study guide

est. 15 hrs

approach — 8 steps

step 01
Lightly sketch the basic composition, focusing on the placement of the figure, house, and truck.
step 02
Block in the large areas of color: sky, ground, figure's shirt and pants, house, and truck, using thin washes.
step 03
Begin refining the figure's face, paying close attention to proportions and subtle value changes.
step 04
Develop the details of the shirt, including the lettering and the skyline graphic.
step 05
Add details to the house and truck, focusing on their forms and textures.
step 06
Work on the background, creating depth with atmospheric perspective by softening details and lightening values in the distance.
step 07
Refine the overall composition, adjusting values and adding highlights to create a sense of light and form.
step 08
Add final details and glazes to unify the painting and enhance the colors.

color palette

primary · cadmium red · titanium white · raw umber

secondary · ultramarine blue · yellow ochre · burnt sienna

Mix various shades of red with white, umber, and sienna to achieve the subtle variations in the figure's shirt and the truck. Use ultramarine blue and white to create the sky, and mix greens for the grass using yellow ochre and blue.

techniques

·portraiture
·glazing
·atmospheric perspective
·color mixing
·rendering textures

common pitfalls

→Getting the proportions of the face wrong.
→Making the colors too saturated or bright.
→Failing to create a sense of depth in the background.
→Overworking the details and losing the overall impression.

materials

surface · stretched canvas

required

·stretched canvas 18x24
·oil paints (cadmium red, titanium white, raw umber, ultramarine blue, yellow ochre, burnt sienna)
·palette
·assorted brushes (round, flat, filbert)
·linseed oil
·turpentine or odorless mineral spirits
·palette knife
·rags