Elderly woman subway rider · oil on paper · 40 x 28 cm

I intentionally left in the penciled notes I made at the bottom when laying out the composition to give an idea of how the painting evolved.

Before applying the paint, I rubbed the surface of the paper with a cut clove of fresh garlic. This is a sizing technique whose purpose is to avoid letting the linseed oil used as a vehicle in oil colors seep into the paper and damage it. It works! Like a lot of oil painting materials and techniques rubbing paper with garlic was invented centuries ago. It is described in a compendious three-volume 17th century book by Antonio Palomino de Castro y Velasco, El museo pictórico, y escala óptica: práctica de la pintura, en que se trata el modo de de pintar á el olio, temple, y fresco, con la resolución de todas las dudas ... y de la perspectiva común ... If you're interested, you can download from free here: http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra/el-museo-pictorico-y-escala-optica--practica-de-la-pintura-en-que-se-trata-el-modo-de-pintar-a-el-olio-temple-y-fresco-con-la-resolucion-de-todas-las-dudas--y-de-la-perspectiva-comun-/