Follow along as the form emerges from the board.
A little further along here.
India Ink is used to establish the darkest values of the subject. The lightest values are obtained by actually scratching directly into the Marble Gesso with an Exacto Knife.
This Gesso is really tough and also an entirely different ball game from working on a standard stretched canvas. You can actually sculpt with this stuff; by carving and sanding or by adding more Gesso in subsequent layers in order to build up key areas (closest to the viewer) in the portrait which will simulate the flesh being raised by the underlying anatomy.
This also actually allows the portrait to cast it's own facial shadows and thus transforming it from your everyday 2 dimensional painting and into a 3 dimensional work of Fine Art with extremely archival qualities.
This thing will be around for the next few hundred years!
This close-up of the head shows you the Gesso's texture on the board that I'm working with.
I haven't as of yet added any additional layers of Gesso to the nose, mustache and/or clothing.
