Bath College Portrait Course Week 8 - 6 March 2012

This week the subject was again Sarah wearing her hat.

This is the angle from where I sat, roughly ten feet away. This was the closest  practical distance, bearing in mind the need to avoid blocking out others. One problem arose, in the first hour session, in that the Sun shone through a window into my eyes.  This wasn't such a problem in the second session as it had moved. Nevertheless I ploughed on, first studying the subject in detail before committing pencil to paper. I tried to measure up accurately using a pencil with arm rigidly held straight out. This isn't easy and proved difficult partly due to the distance from the model. I have been consulting  Bert Dodson's book `Keys To Drawing' (North Light 1985, paperback edition 1990). Charles Reid considers this the best book on drawing, a large claim considering the dozens available.  Having a selection of these books, many of which are valuable, I am inclined to agree in that it is far, far easier to digest in practical terms. It has a very good section on taking proportions. It is still available at a reasonable price from online booksellers like Amazon.  

The Drawing with painting begun on the features.

 Sarah - Schut Noblesse 40 x 50cm (15.75" x 19.75")  300gsm (140lb) Not 

Faults notwithstanding this is a much better effort than my painting of a few weeks ago. I have altered the proportions of hat to face compared to the photo. My wife thinks I have made her look a little sad which is probably true looking at the photo. I am reasonably happy  while constantly striving to do better.

Colours for the face and features were Cadmium Red Light or Pale, Cadmium Yellow Light, plus Cerulean Blue to darken, Lamp Black for the upper eyelids and pupil, Cobalt Blue for the Iris. The hat is white overall but much darker in shadow under the brim where I used diluted Cerulean and very light greys by adding Burnt Sienna to the Cerulean. The hair is mainly Raw Umber with some Gold Ochre and Burnt Umber. The reds are Quinacridone Rose (Graham PV19) and Permanent Carmine (W & N PR N/A). The green is Viridian (Rowney). Ultramarine Violet (Rowney PV15) was added to the background colours of Raw Sienna/Raw Umber and Cerulean.

Brushes were the Isabey Size 6 Retractable for the features with the Da Vinci Maestro Size 6 and Artissimo 44 Size 2 for the rest.

I am now into the final two weeks when we are having a new model. Jackie says we can do whatever we wish, paint, draw, use whatever medium. I may do a large drawing next week then another watercolour in the final session. I have decided not to take the follow up five weeks. I am very happy with how the course has progressed but basically now need a break.

Charles Reid at Crantock - Day Four

On Tuesday, the fourth day of the course, the subject was `Still Lifes'. This is one of Charles specialities where he combines flowers with a variety of other objects. They aren't pure flower paintings but paintings with flowers in them.

The duck was added later and some rearrangement took place.

Initially Charles began with Schut Flamboyant 250gsm 50% cotton paper. This was at the request of his wife who particularly likes the effects created on this paper, which is extra rough. Charles started with a silhouette at top. Draw some and then paint, make sure white shapes are large enough. No details initially. Draw with brush, not over much pencil work. Be very careful with white flowers not to make the details too dark. Tonal values were explained once more. Charles considers them far more important than colour. If you get the tonal values right that's half the battle. Make more light and shade in lighter flowers but do the negative shapes first. This is the only way to get form in lighter flowers. Make the shading quite light otherwise it won't look right. He then began painting using Cadmium Yellow + blues for his greens. A little Raw Sienna added to warm them up. The brush was worked in an up and down motion using colour straight from the paint wells. By this time it was obvious he was not happy as the paper did not seem to be taking the paint very well. After a pause he decided to scrap it and start again! Fortunately Judy was absent at this time and only returned when the second attempt was well under way.

The Schut disaster - as Charles says `mistakes are part of it'! He actually progressed further than this and it wasn't looking good.

This time the paper was Schut Noblesse which he compares favourably to Fabriano. As time had been lost he really got a move on with this painting. After the drawing was completed he started using a No12 brush. This is the largest one I've seen him use and he did switch to smaller sizes later. While Charles was painting almost vertically he indicated this was not his normal preference, which is to have the board at 35/40 degrees. It was interesting to note how he dealt with the three groups of small coloured flowers by reducing the number and making the individual blooms larger. When he painted the pepper he used Alazarin Crimson + Cadmium Red plus Cobalt Blue for the dark areas. He said Cobalt is his favourite blue. The lemon was painted with the cast shadows Raw Umber. The duck was Cobalt Blue, Raw Sienna, Viridian and Cerulean. After this he painted the sky followed by the background. He added an Avocado on the right hand side. He painted a yellow pepper on the left hand side and added another brush just touching the original one but at a different angle. Finally some small areas were overpainted. Then he stopped.

 Still Life - Schut Noblesse  300gsm 50 x 40cm Not

After lunch the students selected a still life arrangement of which there were several spread over the two rooms. I elected to attempt the one that Charles had done. Later at 6pm a critique took place.