Il Brutto

So here’s part 3 of 3 and that’s the collection complete.  Tuco followed the same methodology as the previous two paintings so, what I did (and I’m using copy and paste here) was to:

– get a pencil drawing down using a grid
– mask out key highlights, this time on the gun, the right hand and the rings on Tuco’s left hand
– spatter some masking fluid into the background
– protect the edges of the upper and lower gutter areas with masking tape
– add all the colours, starting with the interesting shapes (hand and gun) but otherwise in a fairly random order, not just back to front
– add multiple layers to the darkest areas
– add some salt to the background
– once the main painting is finished, mask out camera film–like holes along the edges of the gutters and mask out the Italian caption
– add load of random colours to the margins and throw on some salt
– once everything’s dry, remove the masking fluid and we’re done
With one painting completed using Shire colours and one with tundra colours, it was the turn of the dessert supergranulators today.  These colours are well suited to Western scenes.  And they produced good flesh colours too; one common theme across these three paintings has been how well my flesh colour mixes have turned out.  I also used a little bit of cerulean blue today, mainly to get a more silvery colour on the gun and the rings but you can also see a little bit of it in those trousers.
Tuco might be my favourite of the three, mainly because of the colours, although I also like the right hand and the gun.  Something about the shape of his right hand suggests he’s going into this gunfight with a bit of imposter syndrome in him but Sergio Leone and Eli Wallach have to take the credit for that.  There’s also some good granulation going on in the trousers and the background and gutters, while not exactly representative, do convey the heat of the dessert.
This one’s not up for sale as an individual painting, instead being offered as part of a set of three with its companion pieces.

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