Well here's today's progression of the Sargent portrait. After spending last night looking at the picture it became apparent that there were a number of flaws in the work up to that point. Things like the size and shape of the moustache, some of the colours and value relationships. Consequently I approached the day's work with a few concrete ideas in mind. They provided my starting point.
Once I'd addressed those issues I began to work on refining some of the brush work and took the decision to attempt to make quite a few soft edges in the relationships between the planes of the face and hope that I'd end up with a mixture of smooth and harder transitions. I realise that there is still work to be done, for example with the hair, and I think I need to live with it for a little longer before deciding on the finishing touches.
Any suggestions would be gratefully received.
Carolus Durand (after Sargent) - Oil on stretched linen 12" x 12"
16 comments:
Wow. I loved seeing the previous start and then this one. Thanks for sharing your process, I am envious of those who can paint human faces.
Tina - Thanks for your kind words. Writing about the process is my way of providing a little memo for myself. This is something of a departure for me.
Well done Mick. What a difference with Mark ll. The facial planes are coming up nicely. I do like the pose of the original with full frontal at an angle. You are making it look more an over the shoulder pose. Still looks good to me.
You're doing a pretty good job here. I recently attended a workshop with Mike Skidmore www.mikeskidmoreonline.com/ He is a portrait painter and although I don't do oil or acrylics found him pretty interesting. I don't think you are far off a finish, although I know oil is a different medium to watercolour.
Ray - thanks for stopping by. Sorting out the facial planes seems to be the way to start these pictures. I may get round to trying the full pose at some stage. Sargent's portraits are great source material.
Peter - Cheers. I looked up that web site and found it interesting, some good tips and interesting images. Did your course not get you interested in giving the oils a go? I agree, this doesn't feel far from a finish.
Peter - Forgot, I also enjoyed the Cobley stuff.
You have some great planes working here! The way that the dark hair and beard frame the face is excellent. I am always tempted to behave according to the thoughts of Hawthorne, to start many works and save the day of finishing!
Wow,simply wonderful.
Kyle - Thanks. I'm going to leave this a while before thinking of doing anything else to it.
Caroline - Thank you so much.
Looks great Mick! I think studying Sargent is a good path to making good paintings, but you know that. The best part is when you need to know what's not working in yours, you just look at the Sargent. Sometimes a mirror will help you see the corrections that need to be made after painting for hours and your eyes are tired.
Hope to see more of these, even in black and white.
Cheers Dan. You've got me on the path of Sargent and black and white. Lots of fun. I'll try the next portrait in monochrome.
Portrait Painting
wonderful,Thank you so much.
im no good with portraits but i love this mick...such character!
Rob - I'm a novice at these but as my friend Dan observes Sargent is a great teacher.
Post a Comment