Grisaille

Grisaille is essentially a grey-scale glaze that goes on top of my burnt umber underpainting, and that is what I have just completed here on my self-portrait. There are still more layers to go on the skin, but it is amazing how the grisaille transforms a sketch into a painting. My grisaille tends to be more black than grey though, and that is because I want the shadows to be more dramatic. I thin my grisaille with a mix of 60% mineral spirits/40% linseed oil, so that I can lay it on as thin or thick as I need in each shadow.