Monday, May 23, 2016

Group Portrait in a Diner

Yesterday I painted a group portrait in our local diner. I captured a video snapshot to give you the atmosphere of the moment: (Link to YouTube)


I used gouache with a severely limited palette: raw sienna, brilliant purple, cadmium yellow deep, and white, plus some white Nupastel stick to convey the effect of the window glare. The sketchbook is a Pentalic watercolor journal. (Links take you to Amazon pages)


The gouache has a very receptive matte surface that takes the pastel well. You can rub it in firmly with your fingers if you want the rough texture to disappear and look like airbrush. If you put on too much pastel, you can lift it off with a kneaded eraser.

The next full length tutorial video will be "Portraits in the Wild," which releases June 13. It follows me on similar painting adventures portraits of people in the real world, with in-depth coverage of watercolor, gouache, casein, and oil techniques. If you haven't already, check out my video "Gouache in the Wild" today.
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11 comments:

Nathaniel Gold said...

How was the samwich.

Braelyn Snow said...

Your sketches are always amazing, and this one is particularly beautiful. Gorgeous lighting and composition!

Amai said...

Looking forward to the portrait in the wild (And the oil when it comes :)) One question though, I got a thank you when I bought Gouache (which while nice...) but didn't get any sort of receipt or invoice? Is there a way to get one? I keep receipts for all my art spending. Thanks.

James Gurney said...

Amai, if you email me (see bottom left of blog), I can send you a copy of the receipt.

Thanks, Braelyn.

NG: Samwiches are always good at the diner.

Jared Cullum said...

I can't wait! I was wondering when Portrait in the Wild was coming. Glad it's not a very long wait. thanks, as always, for your work.

Vladimir Venkov said...

Lighting and atmosphere are great!

Tomas said...

They have subtitles in Spanish? in the video gouache in the wild

James Gurney said...

Thanks, everyone. Tomas, no, sorry, the video doesn't have subtitles, but I try to speak clearly.

Tomas said...

Thanks James, I liked the video.

Unknown said...

Thanks! Will do when the new ones comes out :)

Willow's Quiet Corner said...

I really love this one. I can almost smell the food cooking and hear the sounds of the diner just looking at this. I expect the people to start moving any moment.