CURRENT PAINTING
April 20th, 2008
Here is what I am working on at the moment. It is a portrait of a lady called Doreen. Luckily for me Doreen has a very interesting face, piercing blue eyes orange / red preraphaelite hair. I immediately wanted to use the cloour of Doreen’s hair in the painting and I always love the way that complementary red and green work together so I asked her to wear a green jumper which also contrasts beautifully with the red sofa too ( which I will be working on next). I think the portrait was more the conception of her husband than Doreen and I’m sure that she won’t mind me saying that she was very uneasy/uncomfortable about sitting for the commission initially but as the hours went by I think she became more relaxed with the whole thing and we began to get some nice images. In contrast, her husband took to being photographed extremely well when I took a few pictres of him later on.
The family had two lovely dogs and I really wanted to include them within the painting because they were so much a part of the family , at your side all the time. While I fear with dread the idea of “Pet Portraiture” I think putting pets within paintings where they are not the main subject, just a little section of a painting works extremely well and in some ways just puts another heartbeat into the painting rather than an inanimate object. I also really enjoyed painting the dogs too, other than drawing my own dog I have never really painted a dog before and their hair, paws and eyes were the perfect subject matter for my detailed style. I’m just about to start the sofa which has incredible detail in the pattern which I’m quite looking forward to.
More updates soon.
(click on the images to enlarge)
Entry Filed under: Art