Painting Portrait Tips / Lots of information about how to paint a portrait
Today part 2 of the interview that Erica Robb made a month ago. Once again I want to explain that I have no qualms in admitting that working from photography has become an integral part of our profession. Many colleagues are secretive about this and I think that’s baloney. But… I also would encourage everyone to work from live model. That is fundamental. It creates the craft, where skills originate. And it is great fun to do!
These days I am reading the book “Man with a Blue Scarf” by Martin Gayford. It is on sitting for a portrait by Lucian Freud. Good books can take possession of your mind for days. It’s like when you spend some time in a boat and you are accustomed to the constant wobbling. Once on shore you find yourself still waddling. You must readjust. Yesterday and today I have been painting the portrait of the man in the picture above and the spirit of Lucian Freud is present at the sessions. His quotes are constantly itching in my mind.
Such as: “The longer you look at an object, the more abstract it becomes, and, ironically, the more real”.
Or: ” I paint people not because of what they are like, not exactly in spite of what they are like, but how they happen to be.
And “I would wish my portraits to be of the people, not like them. Not having a look of the sitter, being them”.
Time and again, I have to clear my mind because these lingering thoughts intervene. I must concentrate on my job, the sitter and me.
This time only some spoken words from a short interview by Erica Robb.
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.
‘What do you do with the background in a portrait painting?’ I hear this question often. The answer varies. I usually base it on what I see in the room. The colour of the surroundings, the wall, a cupboard, a curtain; I use the colours but sometimes blur the objects. What I often do is repeat some of the hues of the face into the background. This portrait shows the “echo trick” clearly. See also this post.
Why is this solution sometimes so effective? Colour balance has to do with mutual relationship. Usually I explain it this way: My colour scheme is based on colours that are members of the same family.
As you already know, I work almost exclusively on commission. It sometimes happens that a client wants to see a detail added to the portrait. An object that the person is very attached to or something that refers to his or her profession. I am always careful about this and wary of it as I do not think it necessary. If I cannot dissuade the sitter, I make the object or detail as unobtrusive as possible. The girl in this portrait plays in a circus as a clown, in her spare time. I did not want to depict her completely dressed up. She only holds a red clown´s nose in her hand. It’s a reference to her hobby, but she herself is the protagonist.
Finally the family portrait is finished and it can be shipped to the gallery. A major job and I really enjoyed the work. Like always the challenge was to get all four protagonists in a credible way on the canvas, engaged in the same moment in time. And of course, the resemblance had to be complete; the main criterion of commissioned work. On this matter I was in close contact with the client as usual, willing to listen carefully and if necessary making adjustments. I will miss the painting that has been for some month on my easel. Eventually everything leaves the studio.
Having delivered some portrait commissions at Morren Galleries in Utrecht we went to the isle of Texel in the North of the Netherlands. September is bird migration time and Texel is a good place to be. Some members of my family are trained birdwatchers. With them we walked and watched. For those who are interested, this is the list of birds we saw this morning at National park the Slufter: Grey Heron, Little Egret, Bean Goose, Greylag Goose, White-fronted Goose, Mallard, Northern Pintail, Eurasian Wigeon, Northern Shoveler, Common Eider, Common Shelduck, Hen Harrier, Roug-legged Buzzard, Common Buzzard, Common Kestrel, Merlin, Common Pheasant, Great-ringed Plover, Black-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Common Greenshank, Broad-billed Sandpiper, Oystercatcher, Herring Gull, Collared Dove, Turtle Dove, Wood Pigeon, Great-spotted Woodpecker, Meadow Pipet, Northern Wheatear, Robin, Common Stonechat, Blackbird, Wren, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Magpie, Eurasian Jay, Common Starling, Carrion Crow, Eurasian Jackdaw, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Yellowhammer, Egyptian Goose.
Although the real migration did not start yet this week we had a great time!
