Female Nude
Oil Painting on Canvas
Alla Prima (Wet-on-Wet)
Contemporary Art

Female Nude 1
Oil Painting on Canvas
by Beatriz Socorro

* click on photo to enlarge

This one is going to be fun and easy  :)

The technique is called "alla prima" aka "wet-on-wet".

To learn more about alla prima go to:  Wikipedia - Alla Prima

The paints used are:

• silver
• light gold
• dark gold
• bronze
• raw umber.

Note:  raw umber is a good color to use when you want to darken any other color instead of using black.

Notice that the lights and shadow on the figure are defined and sharp...not blended.

Notice that there are 5 different shades and tones.

Whoever said English is an easy language?  Gees!!!

To me a shade is a shade whether it be light, medium or dark and a tint is the different variations of the same basic color. So bare with me. My brain can only grasp so much.

But if you want to know the TRUE terminology and if it really matters to you, go to:   Color-Wheel-Artist

First read through the demo before painting anything and observe the painting above as you do, so that you understand what I am trying to show you.

To get the very light shade of gold, I mixed some silver with the light gold. Apply this to the lightest areas of your painting.

I start with the lighter color and work my way down to the darkest. This way I don´t have to be cleaning the brush before applying the next darker shade; whereas if I did it the other way around, I would have to clean the brush before changing to a lighter color so as not to darken it.

This time, when you apply the paint do not leave a space between the two colors as we did in the previous demos.  Remember, we are not blending. So pretend you´re painting by numbers.

The next shade is just pure light gold, followed by dark gold, bronze and finally (since I could not find a darker shade of bronze at the supply store) I added a little bit of raw umber to the bronze to paint the darkest shade. Don´t add too much umber or you will lose the shine of the bronze and end up with a dull color.

Now, with a small flat, soft brush go over the dividing line between the two colors very gently, barely applying any pressure, barely touching.  Pretend your paint brush is a feather  and just barely go over the line that separates the two shades with long and smooth strokes.. After each stroke, wipe the excess paint off the brush with a paper towel.

DON´T clean it with thinner but DO remove the excess paint. The reason for only wiping the excess off is that in this way you allow a very small amount of the colors to blend.

If in some areas the pencil marks of your sketch show through and you don´t want them to, take a small, hard, bristle brush and rub the line as you would with an eraser but do so very gently. Yo don´t want to damage the canvas.

Sometimes I like to let some of the sketch lines show through. So I leave some and erase some. It´s up to you.

For the background, use the light gold and apply it with a soft, flat brush allowing your hand to make the strokes freely in whatever direction it chooses. As if you were directing and orchestra in allegro tempo.

Allegro  Tempo  = quick and lively speed.

Notice we did not use any mediums this time. That´s one of the beauties of alla prima...no mediums, no waiting for one layer to dry before going to the next !!!

With this technique, the only reason to add oil to your paint would be if it is too thick and you want to make it thinner.

You´re done!! Hang it to dry  :)

BUT NOW, you will have to figure out where to get models for your paintings.

Here are 5 possible ways:

1. If you´re lucky, you can get a beautiful man or woman and have them pose for you either live or for a photoshoot.

2. If you´re not so lucky, then you can go to Google search and look for photos or paintings that are in the "public domain" and use those as your reference photos for your sketch. This way you don´t infringe any copyrights and get yourself into trouble.

Here is a great site to get you started:  Wikigallery.org

3. Take nude photos of yourself and don´t tell anyone it´s you...unless you want them to know it´s a self-portrait.

4. Get a female wooden artist figurine.

5. Get an avatar.


Well, I hope you enjoyed this demo.

Until next time...have fun, take care and God bless!