Gavin McDermott

This week’s portrait was considered in terms of shapes instead of lines, working in large blocks of thinned colour, representing the placement of light and dark found on the head. Colour using a mixture of the Purple and Crimson, using a wide, 2” brush.

Initial drawing–on a white canvas–was yellow and red (mixed to make a strong orange colour), with a bit of paint thinner. Peter used a number 4 hog filbert brush. Same colour mix was used for the block-in, and then darker tones achieved with crimson and cadmium yellow.

There are three areas to consider:

1. Mark making
2. Colour
3. Pose/facial expression

Canvas was stained with a thin wash of ‘cadmium yellow’, with the usual suspects on the palette

Put colour in–not just where you see it!

Reference photo is low key, therefore need to push darks to really dark. We looked at work by three artists:
Diego Valasquez, John Singer Sargent and Mary Cassatt

Look carefully at the shadows (and whites of the eyes) to determine the direction of light. Mid-tone image has a limited palette

This was painted on a small canvas from a reference photo, 40 × 50 cm
However, because it was so ‘busy’ we also looked at a blurred version of the reference picture just to better highlight the strong tonal balance and make it easier to identify big shapes for initial painting.

This was painted on a small canvas from a reference photo, 30× 40 cm

Considerations

• Drawing
• Edges
• Key