You DON'T NEED (Traditional) Blends! REAL TIME

A fun, palate cleanser, painterly project after the tighter brushwork of the last few weeks!

Still, I had so much fun with the textured underpainting that I had to use it again in a small scale :)
Applying rough, almost crusty layers at the beginning adds a ton of visual, tactile sensations (I don't know if this makes sense lol) but since later you add a ton of stuff on top of them you polish the "bad roughness" (you know, that kind of finish that makes you tell "ok, you don't know how to properly dilute paint" or "yeah this is dry brushing") integrating the textural information with the more controlled brushstrokes in a super rich and interesting finish without any witness mark of the process.
Sadly the pictures totally kill this subtle things but I think you can still perceive it in the video; I'm fully on video/photo media now but I always give priority to how the model looks in person!    

I know oils are quite sneaky in this particular context but definitely an incredibly efficient and crazily simple way to set a foundational flow of basic tones on which to build sharper textures (btw, is a bit difficult to see but the cleaning introduces a ton of subtle streaks and artifacts!).  Because of its speed, forgiving flow and the almost automatic results it delivers I really can't put this method in the same ballpark of layering and glazing, or even wet blending!

We never really explored this mid dilution heavy staining wash/light layering kind of approach but it's one of my favourite takes on the oil workflow.
It' s a bit risky because you heavily blend the tones and the initial result always tends to desaturation coming from the "excessive" mixing, but it's not an issue if you use it as general more staining foundation and you build new saturated layers on top, or like in my case here, as proper desaturated mood for the scene!
As mentioned in the video this take works better with opaque/semi opaque tones but you can extend the chromatic range to weaker opacities if their pigments have a good colouring power (remember that you can always enhance the grab with an absorbing mat finish in the underpainting)
Uh and compared to lighter washes be prepared to use a bit more strength in the cleaning stage :D

But, the proper brushwork is what really make the whole difference:
keep your palette simple and focus on temperatures and BRUSHSTROKES!!!
The brushstrokes are materials, kinetic energy, gesture, emotions and your signature on the model, don't hide them under plasticky smoothness.
To make it simple, use smoothness to represent smoothness: clean glass, modern polished metals, silk, the skin of a baby... but everywhere else is just misplaced and misused ;)

So, give it a try!

See you soon,
Marco!