Portrait painting -- How to Paint a Portrait -- Part 1

The above is a close up view of a portrait I painted last year. Portrait painting is often seen as the hardest area in which an artist can focus. The skills required to achieve a likeness and maintain it as the painting progresses are often seen as insurmountable, causing many to never consider the genre. From my limited experience of portrait painting to date, having taken lessons from a professional artist and also acquired some knowledge from books -- there is a definite way to approach a portrait which can simplify the work involved. This post is just an initial look at what is involved in starting a portrait.

First the drawing needs to be in the right place on the canvas. For a child it can be better to leave more space than the usual above the head. This extra space allows the feeling that the child is small. For an adult's portrait you can just position in the normal way, as per most portraits you see in museums or galleries.

Initial drawing is key. Although you can refine the drawing to a huge degree as you paint, the important part is to carefully get the distance between the features accurate. The distances between eyes, and from nose to mouth and nose to eyes, and height of eyebrows, forehead height and position of ears relative to the eyes, these are all key to creating the likeness.

So the initial stage in creating the likeness is to position the features very accurately. Short of using a blown up photo and tracing it onto the canvas, (using carbon paper or charcoal) - the artist can draw these features freehand if they are very careful to continuously check the position of each line they draw in relation to all previous lines. Check for length of the line, the angle and curves of it, the distance of the extremities of each line you draw from the surrounding lines already drawn. This is the mindset of a freehand artist. Work on the outline shape of the head first if you find it easier, but sometimes I start with the eyes. Then proceed down to the nose and mouth. Then I can see the face easier how wide it should be or thin and height as well.
For beginners it might be better to have the lips together, no teeth.

One idea is to draw onto a paper such as see-through grease-proof paper and then you can move this over the canvas to position it. Then transfer it on using carbon or charcoal. Working on paper allows easier correction of mistakes as it is hard to erase lines of pencil from a canvas. A charcoal pencil is probably the best to draw straight onto canvas as it brushes off, just be carefull of your hand smudging it as you work, or else use a thin amount of raw umber oil paint with a very small brush, which is what I often use. The oil drawing is easily erased with a cloth and some white spirits.

So to get the likeness -- first the distances between features helps a lot. Get them accurate. Next is the shape of each feature. Concentrate on looking at each and say - what shape is that? Is it a thin lip or straight or curvy and draw the shape as you see it not as you think you see it. By this I mean, in the few seconds between looking and going to draw it, the mind holds the shape within and you "know" what way to draw it. But in those few seconds if you "forget" or are unsure even slightly about what you are about to draw, you must not draw. You need to look again. Keep the distance between the drawing and the reference photo close as this helps many people.

This should improve your drawing ability and so distance and shape of features should get a fair way towards the likeness. Next you need to look at complexion and colour...But for today I will end at this, and post again on that as there is a huge amount involved in that area. Check back for more posts on this soon Jim

Painting a Series -- Focusing on a Subject

The above is a photograph I took last year in December. If it was a painting it would be a good example of a monochromatic colour scheme. We got a lot of snow last winter for a few weeks in Ireland, much more than we usually get, and it was an opportunity to get some good photos. I show it here as an example of a painting idea which I feel has good potential and as I have already done a few similar snowscenes I could be building a small series of this type of painting. I need to start focusing more on one or two particular areas in my art. By this I mean that it is what the market is looking for that an artist is recognisable by their subject matter and also it is necessary that their style is consistent. This doesn't prevent my style evolving but I am feeling for the first time that I have reached a fairly consistent degree of painting style. The thing I want to work on now is brushwork and refining my ability to use varying types of brushwork, smooth or dynamic for various effects. I also want to work on my creativity, something which I am doing as much as possible.

In terms of focusing on one particular area, I feel that I want to tread a path between painting realistically and not going overboard towards hyper-realism which to me seems too much like just repeating what a photographer does. I like a painting to say something different from what a photo does. By that, I will try to include colour and tones that are compatible in terms of colour schemes but which may not necessarily be in any reference photo. A good example of an artist who paints like this is Steve Quiller. He is an expert at colour schemes. So gradually I will try to make more changes in my art, (commissions excepted for now) towards more interesting colour schemes. In a few days I will be posting my latest large painting, so check back to see it. That's it for now Jim

Painting Irish Landscapes - North Tipperary

Many artists consider the Irish landscape a very attractive subject. For the vast majority, that means basically the western coast of Ireland from Killarney to Donegal and perhaps the streets of the capital , Dublin. The interior of the country is also a worthy subject but just takes a bit more "looking" to find a suitable scene. I have been guilty of going for the low hanging fruit too, in painting many scenes from the west coast. However, I have now been commissioned to do a series of paintings of the wild vistas of the hills around north county Tipperary. So over the next few weeks I will be completing these commissions. I have completed one already just yesterday, measuring 20" x 28" in size. It is of Knockalough mountain which lies to the west of Thurles. The townsland area is Foilagoul and it is an area in which I have been privileged to have spent some time. I won't be posting it yet but have several other works which are new and almost finished which I will post shortly. Above is a photo taken on one of the backroads in this scenic part of the country.

Also I did not post for all of August as I wanted to see if the level of "hits" to the blog was affected by not posting and it seems to be holding steady as in it hasn't decreased or advanced in that time. For all the people who have followed my journey over the last three years I wish to say thanks and hope you will stay following this blog and tell others about my art. I intend to keep pushing my ability level and become a really good artist at painting in oils. I have decided to concentrate more on painting people and preferably in a landscape or landscapes on their own. I realise that galleries are looking for more focus in what an artist paints and that must be my goal if I am to be accepted by any of them. So now I will be concentrating on completing my backlog of commission work before starting any new paintings. Check back to see some more updates throughout this month. Jim