Painting Portrait Tips / Lots of information about how to paint a portrait
It has had some technical problems with the installation but now my blog features the (green) https and therefore it is more safe to visit. I was regularly asked, also because I sell products on my website.
This is safe now, so yeah, a big improvement.
I am an avid do-it-yourselfer. Nothing more fun than tinkering around. (Being the handyman is a Lustenhouwer family aberration.) Big things like an entire studio or small things such as a colour-checker, I always enjoy the inventing and making. I’ve always had a reasonably resourced carpentry workshop. My wife Helma had, until recently, a well-equipped metal workshop at her disposal. So we could always make what we wanted. One of the pieces of furniture in my studio which has served me well through the years is my palette-drawer cabinet on wheels. Designed using a small office drawer of metal, I welded a structure around it and made wheels underneath. The thing is over thirty years old but is still my “piece de resistance”. Continue reading “Portrait painting and tinkering”
You know I’m far from being an opponent of working from photography. I have received my share of criticism for this stance. That is fine by me. I know whereof I speak, take it from me. Many of my colleagues use photography. And lots for 100% of their work. Only: they do not want to talk about it! I know this phenomenon from the inside out, and I remain to tell you the truth.
But without prejudice I encourage everyone to study from observation. One of the special features is the reflection of a quest. All the elements of a face are not always immediately in the right place on the canvas. And I like to see these little changes of detail in the work. It gives the final artwork that unique charm.
When I work from a live model, I should actually take many more pictures in between to show that process well. The accompanying picture shows two shots. One after a session of 20 minutes and the other after an hour. Pay special attention to the small changes around the mouth and the eyes.
Of course it is an added problem when a model cannot sit still for more than five minutes, at least I can´t. ( I am always happy to be the painter and not the sitter) Every model tends to drift or have difficulties to hold one position. That is why I always take some pictures with my cellphone before stopping the session. So afterwards I am able to correct some features when the model had gone.
https://youtu.be/jHF8Hf_HhgE
This is about oil paint and medium. But a general word about oil paint. Paint with paint; you can not paint without paint! I see students using far too little paint. Listen to me me: this is often simply out of fear. Not because of artistic viewpoints. Overcome that fear.
The problem starts at the palette. If there is too little paint there, how on earth do you get enough on your canvas? Running out of paint often occurs at the end of a painting-session. I see there is a tendency to thin the amount of paint on the palette with medium in order to gain some volume, instead of re-adding paint from the tube. ERROR!
So, do not be stingy with paint. You really need paint to obtain a painterly effect. Continue reading “oil paint and medium”
It happens to everyone once and a while: the loss of documents in the computer. Five years ago I almost finished the editing of my third long video demonstration. By bad luck, I lost all the work. I was defeated and angry at myself for disconnecting the hard drive from my computer without the necessary precautions. Months and months of work lost! A negligence which I had to atone a longtime. Eventually the footage could be retrieved by a specialist company in Madrid, but the editing had gone forever. I am taking charge of the project again. From now I will be spending all available time behind the screens. I hope to finish the project by summer. I will keep you posted.
Canvas and preparations. The word canvas means a fabric used as a painting surface. Sometimes the canvas is made from cotton fibers and other times from linen fibers. Panel is nowadays almost always made of masonite or fiber board.
Whatever you use, the big secret is in the preparation.
Poorly prepared panel or canvas is lethal. Often this trashy quality is the reason, a novice in oil painting gives up after a few attempts. Flimsy linen absorbs immediately every brushstroke. Continue reading “Canvas and preparations”
Beside my palette is an egg timer. I set it to 25 minutes. For that time, I paint. Then I take a 5 minute break and then set the alarm again for another twenty-five minutes.
How did I come up with that idea? Not on my own. A few weeks ago I read an article about the Pomodoro Technique. I looked it up on the Internet and I was amazed at the amount of information. I immersed myself in it and decided to try this. And I can tell you IT WORKS! Continue reading “Portrait painting with an egg timer.”
This is the first of a series of 10 blog-posts, in which I will discuss ten of the most common pitfalls in portrait painting. I will publish every fortnight on each topic. Continue reading “About photography”
As I have told you once, I was commercial illustrator in a past life. Even after we moved to Spain, twenty-five years ago, occasionally there were advertising commissions or assignments for institutional campaigns. Hence commercial work. I have experienced great pleasure, not at least for the preparatory phase. For example, the search for models and props, such as for the illustration for the Dutch beer brand Amstel.
The other picture shows the irrigation system for agriculture in the village of Paterna, where we used to live. This latter was an assignment for a calendar produced by a bank, the theme being Water in the Comunidad Valenciana.
I always did these jobs with satisfaction but the time pressure was often lethal, ever again fighting against deadlines. In that respect I am really glad that time in my life is far behind me now.
This week I was asked in an interview, whether I prefer to do portraits of men, women or children. I replied that I rather like to portray older people. The more wrinkles, the better. A young woman is often difficult to do because you can easily mess up a flawless face with some bad brushstrokes. Teenagers can become upset by how old or young they may appear. Middle aged people sometimes can be boring.
