Painting Portrait Tips / Lots of information about how to paint a portrait
More than once people asked how a novice portraitist must decide his prices. I remember I once said: If you don’t have any orders you are either too expensive, or you have too little quality. If you have too many commissions, it may be that you are too cheap.
An interesting book that I am currently reading is “The lives of Jan Six”, written by the Dutch historian Geert Mak. I do not know if there is an English translation. Continue reading “Art flows to where the money is”
Hieronymus Bosch and modern weird artists.
For next Monday, I have a ticket for the big Hieronymus Bosch exhibition at the Prado Museum in Madrid. I am very curious to see! Bosch is the pre-eminent painter of the most wondrous creatures and unusual scenes. Probably contemporaries considered him a weird artist. Museums and cities organize countless events and exhibitions to celebrate the five hundredth year of the Dutch painter’s death. Bosch is named after the city Den Bosch. Here he was born. He lived almost simultaneously with Leonardo da Vinci. He is buried in the cathedral of his birthplace. Continue reading “Weird artists”
More than fifteen years ago, I sent this portrait as an entry for the Royal Institute of Oil Painters´ annual exhibition in London. I delivered the canvas myself at the Mall Galleries. Continue reading “Strange stories”
‘What subject do you prefer?’ A frequent question. Actually I don´t know what to answer. Do I prefer official-portraits? Each portrait is fun to do whether it is a small child or an old lady, a professor or a lawyer. It is true that some faces are more attractive than others. A commissioned portrait never leaves me a choice and it is always exciting to see what model will appear. The same goes for official portraits. Continue reading “Official-portraits”
When I was 11 years old I received my first drawing lessons from Beatus Nijs. I´ve written about him before. To him I owe much of the success of my entire career. He was like a father to me. He encouraged me enormously and made me draw everything that was available. He once gave me a table leg to study as homework. I found a drawing pad of mine from 1964 with this pencil drawing. I was 13 years old. If you look closely you can see on the right side Beatus´ drawing correction. Continue reading “I loved all kinds of drawing”
Let me start with a quote of the famous Art teacher Robert Henri form his book The Art Spirit:
“Better paint the gesture of the hand than the hand”.
I love to paint hands and this fantastic phrase animates me once again to show the expression of the hand.
Painting hands in oil paint. Many people think that a painted portrait is just only about the face. Of course it is more than that. Hands can belong just as well to the whole image. Hereto the hands of a commission that I have on my easel now. When the portrait is delivered, and I have the permission of the client, I’ll show you the whole painting. Continue reading “Painting hands in oil paint”
I was in London this week for a portrait commission. There and back in two days. I hope to show you later some of this very interesting assignment. I visited the client in his office in the Millbank Tower.
Of course I did not miss the opportunity to enter the Tate, as it is next door after all. I went directly to the Singer Sargents. I admit it: I’m quite the monomaniac sometimes. I took some pictures and I include them here with some comments. I am safely back home now and return to work with new enthusiasm, kindled by our eternal hero John Singer Sargent.
