A portrait is the felt conveyance of individuality; the intensity of the regard and the focus on the specific. It fills the empty spaces.
The practice of portrait painting requires a specific skill-set that can only be acquired with a layered approach of shape recognition, visual awareness and knowledge.
First, and foremost, is learning how to block-in the overall BIG shape. Within the big shape resides the likeness and expressive/emotional tenent. I call this striking the arabesque, it informs line, shape and gesture. Terminology implies intent.
Once this skill is acquired, this first hurdle cleared, the pathway to mastering portrait painting is clarified and the journey made more sure.
Portrait Painter TV begins your structured pathway at absolute ground zero and layer-by-layer you will acquire the skill-sets and syntax of solid portrait painting.
Try Portrait Painter TV for FREE for two weeks. After that your comprehensive portrait training is only $17/month. You pay monthly. There is no yearly plan so you can pause or cancel whenever you need to. If you only paint once a week it is still less than that coffee steaming on your taboret. I'll notify you two days before your trial ends.
Portrait Painter TV is brand new. Alas, no testimonials yet.
Module 1: Shape & Proportion is your foundation.
There is a yawning delta between perception and reality. We look, but we do not see. The realist artist's training is the stripping of the veils of faulty perceptions until the actuality of shape and form presents.
In Module 1 you will acquire the skill of striking shape and assessing proportion accurately and consistently.
Module 2: The Facial Features.
Having acquired the skill set of rendering the architecture of facial form we proceed to understanding the structures of the facial features in both the frontal and the 7/8’s profile view.
It is poor practice to learn drawing from the photograph. Drawing/Painting is a distinct language from that of the photograph which often distorts and presents an exaggerated depth of field. Instead you will study the facial features from my template paintings.
Module 3: Planar Structures
John Singer Sargent strongly advised his students to spend some time painting the head without the features. That way you’ll acquire an understanding of the planar structures of the head in which to fully realize 3-dimensional effect in your portrait painting.
Module 3 is your initial foray into painting portraits in oil. Mixing flesh tones is a large hurdle to cross. Hence, you'll work with a limited palette of only four colors from which you will begin to master flesh tones
Module 4: Beginning Portrait Painting
John Singer Sargent’s portrait study of Rosina Ferrera (Capri Woman) is an excellent starting point for the beginning portraitist. It proffers a solid planar structure that is accessible to the beginner’s understanding of facial form.
Here you will learn to draw with the brush, foregoing the restrictions imposed by a preliminary drawing, and to block in the primary light/dark pattern.
From there you will learn how to 'serve it up in the abstract', following Sargent's curriculum of developing the ebauche with three half-tones and constructing the planar forms seeing through the eyes of a sculptor.
Intermediate: Module 5: William Merrit Chase Woman in a Black Hat
William Merritt Chase was a contemporary of John Singer Sargent. Chase's School of Art morphed into The Parsons School of Design, one of the pre-eminent art colleges in the US.
Whereas Module 4: Beginning Portrait Painting focused on the Ebauche, the initial construction of painting, Module 5 takes you significantly further into the passages of Pentimenti where you will learn how to strengthen and refine facial structure while acquiring the language of painting.
Your palette is expanded to nine colors and you'll be introduced to the entire progression of painting a portrait from start to finish while learning how to mix realist flesh tones using color theory and applying your brush strokes with a sympathetic concordance to the underlying anatomical form.
Intermediate: Module 6: Corot The Greek Girl
Few artists have managed a one-two punch upon the trajectory of art. First, his landscapes paved the way to Impressionism; second, his figurative paintings had an immense influence on 20th Century art.
Corot's figural works have a sculptural quality. It is as if Corot carved the forms out of stone; they are still, permanent, neither wooden nor stiff. What is seen and immediately felt is the abstract structural surface (the patina) of the paint. Oil paint possesses a wondrous materiality that no other medium even comes close to matching.
Module 6 introduces you to the plastic element of painting with a sculptural sensibility.
Intermediate: Module 7: Velazquez El Nino
The beginning of a painting often determines whether it will be a success or not. On the one hand the drawing must be reasonably accurate, at least within 90%, and on the other you mustn't be so concerned with the drawing that it inhibits the spirit. Technique should be the liberator of compelling expression, not a shackle that suffocates and procures timid and tentative work.
Hombres de placer, men of pleasure, lent a carnivalesque otherworldliness, a crucial counterpoint, to the rigidly codified social structure of the Royal Court. Velázquez' informal portrayals allowed him unfettered reign to paint as he chose to paint. The genius of Velázquez manifested in the 'other'.
Velázquez' treatment of Lezcano's head is breathtaking in the seemingly casual rendering of facial forms, executed with an economy of means achieved by very few painters. Every brush stroke is rendered with a sympathetic correspondence to the underlying anatomical forms.
Module 7 El Nino introduces you to the practice of spotting color/value notes to convincingly build facial form.
Intermediate: Module 8: Velazquez Portrait of a Young Girl
Painting pale flesh tones is a challenge for every artist. Start too light and you quickly find yourself boxed into a corner and chalking out.
Portrait of a Young Girl is Velázquez' only portrait of a child who was not a member of the royal family. This informal portrait possesses a beguiling chroma and seemingly effortless brush work.
the practice of copying is not to recreate a painting in exacting verisimilitude but to draw lessons from it and apply those lessons to your own work. Copying is the great leveller and Velázquez will always humble the best amongst us.
To be released mid-April 2026
ALLA PRIMA!
Alla prima, also known as du premier coup, is a first strike — a painting resolved in a single sitting.
I'm not hide-bound by rules. There is good practice and there are beautiful, compelling paintings. The twain doesn't always meet. That said, alla prima requires both a sound foundation and working strategy.
You begin with striking the big shape (the block-in), followed by serving up the initial half-tones in the abstract. Just like John Singer Sargent taught. And then you're out the gate! Building up the paint surface (the abstract structural surface) with a sympathetic concordance to the underlying anatomical form and succinct bravura codas until an engaging, 3-dimensional alla prima portrait emerges that is as fresh as hot biscuits.
For the serious portrait painter ...
Featuring the technical nuts & bolts of painting portraits in oil. Whether you are a beginner unsure of how to begin a portrait or a seasoned painter looking to push your painting to the next level the needs of the serious painter are addressed.
And PORTRAIT PAINTER is free!
... you don't need to subscribe, but why risk missing an issue?
'Oh how I look forward to your monthly issues! This one is definitely not for the faint of heart or to leisurely view with morning tea. I will come back to it though and devour every line and image! Thank you for your knowledge and gift of writing. I so enjoy it!' Nancy
