Gavin McDermott

Painting Smiles!

Canvas was stained with a thin wash of ‘cadmium yellow’, with the usual suspects on the palette

• Titanium white
• Cadmium yellow
• Yellow ochre
• Cadmium red
• Alizarin crimson
• French ultramarine
• Raw umber

Because a viewer’s attention will especially focus on the areas of detail, the temptation to paint in individual teeth (as per the reference photo) had to be resisted (to focus on the smiley eyes instead). The real magic though comes from the addition of cool highlights to contrast the warmth of the face.