Behind The Scenes: What Supplies do we use for our portraits?
At Kayla Hughes Company, we offer many different mediums for our art pieces. All of what you see here we hand make in house to make sure you get the highest quality product possible. Take a look at the various materials we use to produce the artwork we create.
Charcoal
We use charcoal sticks and pencils to draw the custom charcoal sketches. Along with that we use white charcoal sticks and pencils for highlights and a kneaded eraser. Once the sketch is done the piece is sprayed with a fixative to make sure no fading occurs and the art doesn’t smudge.
Colored Pencil
The process for using colored pencil is very similar to charcoal. We use the Prismacolor Premier colored pencils, a kneaded eraser, and the fixative. The Prismacolor Premier colored pencils are very high quality and lightfast, which means the colors don’t fade over time. You know for sure that in 20 years your colored pencil portrait will look the way it did the day you received it.
Oil
Our oil paint portraits are the ones that require the most time and materials. We use a canvas, or wooden panel, the oil paint, various mediums (to change the flow and texture of the paint), a solvent, or paint thinner, boar bristle brushes, and a varnish for when the paint dries so that your painting will last a long time without fading or cracking.
When we paint the portraits we normally use canvas as a surface, sometimes upon request we will use a wooden panel. The panel or canvas is prepped with gesso to create a smooth surface for painting. The Paint we normally use is Gablin (one of the best, in my opinion), and Windsor & Newton oil paints. While we are painting we will mix the paint with a medium to increase the flow of the paint. Sometimes a painting can be done in one session, but most times they will require multiple sessions and layers. The more layers the longer it will take due to the drying time of oils. one layer can take between a couple of days to a week to dry enough to start the next layer. This is the reason why oils take a longer time to complete and why they will be more costly. Once the last layer is finished and dry it can then be varnished, which is the final step in the process before it gets shipped our customers.
To shop for some of our custom pieces check them out here!
I hope that this has given you more insight in how our art is created. We put lots of time, and love into each piece, because we know they will be going to home that love them and will care for them for many years to come.
-Kayla
