Spartacus. 14x14, oil on linen panel. 2015.
It has been a busy last couple of days: painted this portrait, started another, finished another, made changes to two others, painted a color study, stretched and primed two canvases, then toned 6 panels.
I painted this sketch portrait from the customer's own photos: the larger square format made a nice fit for Spartacus's big boxy head. Leaving the bottom of the canvas unfinished helped to balance out the mass of his noggin in the upper half of the painting.
I used a palette of ultramarine, alizarin permanent, cad orange and cad yellow medium, plus a small amount of bright red in the collar and a small amount of burnt sienna mixed with ultramarine for the darkest bits.
After consultation with the customer I made a few small changes to the eye area.