How To Paint The Figure From Life

It is one thing to paint a nude model from life and quite another to paint a real life person. I had the absolute pleasure to paint this for a client this week. We completed it from start to finish at my studio in about four hours, 16 x 20,oil on linen,  having never met before.

This client had seen another nude sketch I had done and wanted something similar as a gift for her boyfriend.

The client was very happy with my efforts.

So how did I do it? Well, just about the same as everything else. Try to get a good night's sleep before, get a good drawing down for the client to approve before we move on, then sqint my way through to paint the big shapes. Keep my paint clean, two brushes, one for the lights and one for the darks. And some good communication with the client ahead of time to find out what she wants, color scheme etc.