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Portrait painting and tinkering

palette-drawer
My selfmade palette-drawer cabinet on wheels

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”

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Work from observation, the power of perception

Portrait painting from observation

Portrait painting from observation

Portrait painting from observation

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.

Portrait painting from observation
Painting from live model

 

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oil paint and medium

 

https://youtu.be/jHF8Hf_HhgE

Use of paint

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”

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Portrait painting and filming

making a video tutorial
Editing the long tutorial video

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.

Stills from the video
Stills from the video
Stills from the video
Stills from the video
Stills from the video
Stills from the video
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Portrait painting lessons (3) about brushes

Sometimes I see students paint with miserable brushes because of slackness or just stinginess. A Very Bad Habit!
good and bad brushes

In my studio I have a brushes’ grave yard.

– Why not throw them all away?

– I can´t do that. They have served me faithfully.

– But they are far from being worn!

– No, but they are not good enough anymore.

Actually I should not think of a cemetery, let me call it a brushes retirement home. Sometimes I take some brushes out of that stock and I try them again, but I have to conclude that they are turned down for some reason.

What standards must a good brush meet?

  1. It must accurately lead paint on the canvas where the artist wants it.
  2. It must be able to bring sufficient paint onto the canvas.
  3. It should be shapeable, a paint brush must be able to cut like a knife.
  4. It must not scrape off paint.

Continue reading “Portrait painting lessons (3) about brushes”

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Canvas and preparations

Canvas and preparations

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.

Canvas and preparations
testing the canvas

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”

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Portrait painting with an egg timer.

Portrait painting with an egg timer.

Portrait painting with an egg timer.

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.Portrait painting with an egg timer.

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.”