Step-by-step: ‘Self Portrait in Conversation’
May 1st, 2011 7 CommentsAre you reading this via email? Click through to my website for better image quality. GO ›
This little painting was my contribution to this year’s Portrait Society of America “6×9 Limited Size – Unlimited Talent” fundraiser. I have no idea what became of it at the event, but here’s how it was created:
The Concept
About the only time I get a good look at myself in a mirror is while brushing my teeth, and for awhile now I have thought that the particular shade of blue on my bathroom walls would make a nice background for a portrait. It even inspired my previous self portrait, which I thought was a very successful painting … except that the blue sheet that I used as a backdrop couldn’t quite replicate the color of those walls. So when I was asked to contribute to the Society’s fundraiser, it was a good excuse to try again. As for clothing, I spent most of this winter enveloped in knitted items, so the scarf & sweater were a natural choice.
I had actually wanted the painting to be entitled “Self Portrait Looking Up”, until I realized that this would have necessitated the use of like 4 mirrors instead of 2. The supplied 6″ x 9″ panel would also leave quite a bit of space below my head, so I decided to include my hand in the composition. The end result was this less-spiritually-significant-but-hopefully-still-visually-fascinating painting, “Self Portrait in Conversation” – painted mostly wet-into-wet over the course of two days (maybe 14 hours total).
My Setup
As you can see, painting a self portrait in profile requires at least two mirrors and a sink. I prefer to paint at a distance of 6 to 10 feet from my canvas, so this was tight quarters … but with a panel this small, it worked out fine. Whenever possible, I try to set up my paintings so that my subject and my canvas are illuminated by the same light source. I also toned my panel a couple of weeks in advance with a light transparent gray (raw umber + ultramarine blue).
Bonus points if you can name the CD that’s propping up my canvas :)
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Step 1
Step-by-step: White Rose
February 22nd, 2011 9 Comments
For the most part, I have two gears as a painter – one for paintings that I build up wet-over-dry, letting each layer dry for days or weeks between coats … and one for smaller paintings that can be completed in one or two sittings while the paint is still wet. This little picture is a good example of the latter – 12″ x 8″ and completed over the course of a long day.
Preparations
I begin every picture that I paint from life by looking through an adjustable viewfinder. This one is made by Viewcatcher, and I like everything about it except how small it is. This company also offers a Viewcatcher App for iPhone, which I haven’t tried. With the viewfinder taped in place at the same dimensions as my canvas or board, I can easily find a composition that is actually capable of fitting within these dimensions. In this demo I looked through the viewfinder quite often through Steps 1-3, after which I put it aside entirely.
Also, unless I intend to begin with a sepia underpainting, I always paint overtop of a lightly toned canvas. I use either straight Raw Umber, scrubbed on very thinly, or Raw Umber mixed with Ultramarine Blue if I want a grayer tone. I have seen many artists begin their paintings with a quick turpentine wash which they work right overtop of while wet, but I prefer to let my ground dry for at least a week before painting over it (when time allows). You can see my ground still showing through in the photo below.
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Step 1
I rarely do any serious drawing with paint, as you can see above. When I do feel the need to have a line drawing in place, I will do it in pencil or charcoal on a separate sheet of paper and trace it onto my canvas … but for a little painting like this, a preliminary drawing isn’t necessary. I begin very slowly – it took me about a half hour to block in these shapes, and I can spend much longer if the composition is complicated or I am having a bad day! The idea is to be as accurate as possible before even thinking about rendering anything, so that I don’t end up having to move the rose blossom half an inch one way or the other after I’ve spent the whole day modeling details.
An Interesting Commission
July 8th, 2010 1 Comment
This painting was created over two days during my most recent portrait adventure in England, and it represents my first commission to paint a house. Crockham Grange is the home of Randolph and Catherine Churchill, and I’m happy with how it translated into paint.
Preparations
Although I had already visited Randolph and Catherine several times before, I didn’t know their property well enough to approach this painting with a pre-made composition in my head. So I flew to England with three sets of stretcher bars – 14”, 18”, and 24”, and on my first night in Kent I stretched a 14” x 24” canvas and toned it lightly with raw umber and ultramarine blue.
Day 1
I started this painting in late morning two days later, and I began with an umber block-in to avoid the sorts of drawing errors which can occur when I just dive in with color. 14” x 24” is larger than most of my alla prima work, and this is a fairly dense composition. Plus the morning sun shone from behind the house (throwing the whole front face into shadow), so I felt good about just pushing around brown shapes while I waited for the sun to move:
Behind the painting: ‘A Forest Path’
April 26th, 2010 5 Comments
This painting is actually a view of Kathryn’s and my old driveway in Upper Black Eddy (Bucks County, Pennsylvania) … although at more than a quarter mile long, it certainly was a forest path! This represents one of my first attempts at beginning an outdoor painting in sepia, and it remains a good example of how I approach much of my plein air work.
Day 1
At 16” x 12” this painting was small enough to potentially be completed in one day, but I was nervous about getting bogged down trying to place my shapes and work out the subtleties of all that green at the same time. So I decided to break up the painting into several days of work and begin with a sepia underpainting:
