3.2.2

Painting 1 The Practice of painting

PART 3 Portrait and figure

Project 2 looking at faces

Exercise 2 Self portrait

First I prepared a sheet of A2 300lb watercolour paper with gesso and while it was drying I got the chair and the mirror in the right place and did a quick mapping out sketch with charcoal on A” cartridge.

Figure 1 (3.2.2.1) Charcoal sketch on A2 Cartridge

I then painted a thin raw umber acrylic ground on my watercolour paper and while that was drying I had a glass of Orvieto and squeezed out some raw umber and titanium buff, I had another glass of Orvieto for luck and to let the ochre dry as much as the wine then put the Clash on and painted away. This is where I finished for the night.

Figure 2 (3.2.2.2) End of day one water mixable oils on A2 300lb not

It’s now day four and it is still very wet so I am going to post it as it is and I will edit this post as and when it dries and I can get back on to it. It is a good likeness though.

3.1.2

Painting 1 The Practice of painting

PART 3 Portrait and figure

Project 1 Observing the human figure

Exercise 2 Linear figure study

In the comments in my Tutor report my tutor suggested I should investigate Degas’ pastel technique as this piece called for a linear figure study I thought this might be an ideal place to give it a go.

I amazoned book called “Paint like Degas” by Damien Callan that had a whole chapter devoted to pastel techniques. Degas basically used a layering technique with a layer of pastel and charcoal then a layer of fixative, repeat as necessary until the picture is complete.

I didn’t have a model to hand, which I felt I needed to get the tones, colours, features, hands and feet right, I experimented with few of the half hour pose models I had drawn in life class but they didn’t quite cut it so I downloaded a pose from Croquis cafe, (it was number 153) put it on the 52 inch screen, sat down and began my first layer.

The first few layers were difficult as I needed to get used to how the fixative affected the pastel and the charcoal, some became too transparent or muddy but after a while I started to get used to it, I must have done about 25 layers and it ended up looking like this.

Figure 1 (3.1.2.1) Rhus, pastel charcoal and fixative on A2 sugar paper

I was pleased with the outcome and quit while I was ahead, I learned quite a few things. A stronger initial drawing would have helped to make things easier, but it was possible to carve into the figure with the charcoal and the opaque pastel to adjust the initial drawing. The details were fiddly at this scale with the chunky pastels maybe a set of pastel pencils would have helped. It isn’t a technique you could practice with a model or any other living being in the house, the fixative is too unbearable, it should probably be done in the garden in the summer, Degas worked from memory and photographs. The sugar paper held up well, Degas used to do this on tracing paper, I didn’t believe that until I tried but the paper gets thicker with the fixative. Sickert said “Degas’ pastels were thick like a cork bath mat”, I would guess that starting with tracing paper you would need around at least a hundred layers to achieve that.

Degas said “Don’t paint what you see, paint what you want them to see”. I also began to understand the emphasis Degas put on having a good floor in your paintings. Lastly Ingres said to Degas “Draw lines young man, plenty of lines”, next time more lines and less smudging and more surgeons masks.

Quite a learning experience.

3.2.4

Painting 1 The Practice of painting

PART 3 Portrait and figure

Project 2 looking at faces

Exercise 4 Research point

Go on the internet and find some portraits that convey a distinct mood or atmosphere rather than simply a physical likeness. Look at Picasso’s blue paintings with their mood of surreal sadness or the dark earth colours of van Gogh’s early paintings of peasants seated around a fire in their poor meagre surroundings. Look at the strong tonal contrast in Rembrandt’s portraits and the formidably restricted palette with which he seemed to convey the very essence of a person’s mood and personality. By contrast compare the gaiety or the disturbing nightmarish quality of the portraits and figure paintings of the Fauve painters and the German Expressionists.

Picasso’s blue period lasted for about three years from 1901 to 1904 following the suicide of his dear friend Carlos Casagemas over an unrequited love affair. During his three year long depression Picasso painted in mainly blues, blacks and greys and there is a sorrowful mournful feel to these works. The two examples I have chosen are from towards the end of this period and although the old guitarist has an ochre guitar the blues and greys accentuate the overall sadness of the predicament of the old beggar

Figure 1 (3.2.4.1) The old guitarist, Pablo Picasso 1903 (source)

Angel Fernandes de Soto was another old friend of Picasso’s from back in Spain the portrait is also known as the Absinth drinker a fact that is reflected in the greenish tinge to de Soto’s face. Absinth was the scourge of the artistic set in Paris until it was banned in the early twentieth century.

Figure 2 (3.2.4.2) Portrait of Angel Fernandes de Soto, Pablo Picasso 1903 (source)

Vincent van Gogh was another artist who struggled with an Absinth habit that began in Paris but the pictures chosen here were from his Dutch period before he got to Paris in 1886. They bring out the sadness prevalent in the lives of the Dutch peasants, the unremitting toil and the poor living conditions they had to endure. Perhaps Absinth, a Pernod like drink but with added drugs had played a bigger part than is realised in the emergence of the art movements that blossomed in Paris at the turn of the twentieth century.

Figure 3 (3.2.4.3) Peasant woman by the fire, Vincent van Gogh 1885 (source)

Vincent painted two versions of the potato eaters, this is the more sombre earlier version of the peasants in their humble abode, note how no one in the picture looks out at the viewer, emphasising the humility of the peasants.

Figure 4 (3.2.4.4) The potato eaters, Vincent van Gogh 1885 (source)

Rembrandt’s palette consisted of the following colours: azurite, smalt, lead-tin yellow, yellow ochre, red ochre, vermilion, madder lake, carmine lake, Raw sienna, burnt sienna, raw umber, burnt umber, cassel earth, brown ochre, lead white and bone black.

Figure 5 (3.2.4.5) The Night Watch, Rembrandt Van Rijn 1642 (source)

It is remarkable the realism Rembrandt achieved with such a dull sounding palette but the heavy darks we see in the canvases of Rembrandt owe more to botched conservation attempts than to the brush of Rembrandt. He had a knack of painting jewellery and armour with this dull sounding palette and a particularly good example of this is shown in figure six.

Figure 6 (3.2.4.6) The conspiracy of Claudius Civilis, Rembrandt Van Rijn 1662 (source)

I think that is enough of dull paintings let’s take a look at some angry paintings these were done by the German expressionist and are quite frightening If Max Beckmann had been an Italian rather than a German I think he would have been a hitman for the Mafia. There is something about his brushwork and colours that brings out the thug in him in his self portraits yet in his photographs he manages to look like the mild mannered Max Beckmann.

Figure 7 (3.2.4.7)Self portrait with a cigarette Max Beckmann (source)

Figure 8 (3.2.4.8) Self portrait with horn, Max Beckmann 1940 (source)

Ernest Ludwig Kirchner’s work of 1915 is an early anti war effort about the horrors of the first world war, a soldier returning home mutilated unable to regain the interest of the sweetheart he left behind. You can almost feel the horrors of the war in the features of the soldier.

Figure 9 (3.2.4.9) Self portrait as a soldier, Ernest Ludwig Kirchner 1915 (source)

Well that wasn’t very pleasant at all, but not to worry, its back to the turn of the century in Paris where the playful fauves, I really can’t imagine wild beasts painting such colourful happy pictures pictures but possibly the context is that wild beasts would not understand much about painting in the first place. It’s probably a French thing. Anyway the Story goes that the Fauves colours are an expressive use of colour standing on the shoulders of the giants Van Gogh and Gauguin with the added twist thrown in of the influence of primitive African masks and an attempt to paint in a childlike way without the benefit of the painterly knowledge gained from their art studies.

They are definitely colourful perhaps overly so as you can see from looking at the examples by mattisse4 and Kees van Dongen below. Me, I think I need another Absinth.

Figure 10 (3.2.4.10) Woman with a hat, Henri Matisse 1905 (source)

Figure 11 (3.2.4.11) The green stripe, Henri Matisse 1906 (source)

Figure 12 (3.2.4.12) Self portrait with a stripped tee shirt, Henri Matisse 1906 (source)

Figure 13 (3.2.4.13) Woman with a large hat, Kees van Dongen 1906 (source)

3.2.1

Painting 1 The Practice of painting

PART 3 Portrait and figure

Project 2 looking at faces

Exercise 1 Research point

Do some research into artists self portraits. Some artists- Most notably Rembrandt and Van Gogh- painted numerous self portraits, but there are plenty of other examples. Chose five or six portraits that particularly appeal to you. Try and chose examples that cover a broad time span and a range of painting techniques. Look carefully at these and make notes in your learning log. For example, does the artist portray himself as herself or an artist? What is the purpose of the self portrait? What impression is the artist trying to convey? What impression is actually conveyed? If possible compare your chosen self-portrait with portraits of the same sitter by other artists. What does this comparison tell you?

I have chosen five or six artists rather than five or six self portraits and as a comparison have chosen two self portraits by the same artists, in the most cases separated by time in their career between the two self portraits. I will deal with the self portraits in a chronological fashion.

Mostly the self portrait is painted by the artist as there is a readymade model, which does not have to be paid or organised as the model is available at a moment’s notice. There is also a touch of vanity in the self portrait and as most self portraits are retied by the artist they tend to act as an advertisement for the artist’s skill at capturing a likeness, if you visited the artist’s studio you could quite easily see how well the artist could capture a portrait by seeing for yourself how well the artist had captured his own portrait.

One of the earliest artists to indulge in self portraiture was Durer. Durer painted sixteen selfportraits

Figure 1 (3.2.1.1) Self portrait 1498 Albrecht Durer (source)

The first in silver point at the age of twelve, figure 1 at the age of 26 and figure 2 four years later at the age of 30. Durer considered himself a dandy with his long flowing locks and portrays himself not as an artist but as a wealthy client dressed in sumptuous robes this would be a reflection of Durer’s status in the world and is probably an expression of his wealth that a working artist had the time to create self portraits rather than create paintings for clients. The pose in the first portrait is a classic Flemish pose whereas in the second portrait Durer is full face in almost Christ like majesty, perhaps a reflection of his own self confidence and belief in himself which seems to be increasing with time. This is brought out by the greater realism of the second portrait in terms of the details of the hair and clothes, it is interesting to note the gloves in the first portrait, which are easier to paint than hands, compared with the delicately rendered hand in the second. This is a man who is proud of his increased skills and not afraid to show it. The second portrait has a more Italian influence to it, perhaps reflecting the knowledge Durer gained in his travels to Italy about this time.

Figure 2 (3.2.1.2) Self portrait Albrecht Durer (source)

Moving on we take a look at two self portraits by Rembrandt the first painted when he was twenty three and the second painted when he was sixty three. Rembrandt was a prolific self portraitist and his lifetime output represents some 15 % of his portrait work. In neither of the two portraits chosen is there any indication that Rembrandt was an artist and curiously both depict the same pose which may not be as surprising as it seems as it makes the most of the “Rembrandt” lighting set up, lit from top left to bring out the form. In the first portrait you can see the defiance of youth and the same confidence and self belief that emanates from the Durer portrait discussed earlier.

Figure 3 (3.2.1.3) Self portrait 1629 Rembrandt van Rijn (source)

In the second portrait there is an almost palpable feel of a lifetime of tragedy and grief Rembrandt had suffered bankruptcy seen his beloved Saskia and all their children die, the last, his son Titus the year before. Both portrait were painted by the same hand but each was a product of a different mind. You can see the development of Rembrandt’s painting style quite clearly from the thin blended slick style of his youth to the thick heavy impasto style of his maturity

Figure 4 (3.2.1.4) Self portrait at the age of 63, 1669 Rembrandt van Rijn (source)

Somewhat astonishingly the two self portraits I have chosen for van Gogh are dated only three years apart, the first painted before he left the Netherlands in 1886 and the second at the end of his time in Arles in 1889. What a journey Vincent made in those years both geographically but perhaps more importantly artistically. In the earlier work you can already see that Vincent has a very real sense of colour and colour mixing but I think you can see something else. Vincent is one of the most expressive of painters and you can see that same steely eyed confidence that I picked up in the earlier portraits I looked at. Perhaps looking at self portraits in this way has taught me something of the expressionist techniques of earlier artists and that expressionism may not be quite as modern as we normally think.

Figure 5 (3.2.1.5) Self portrait with a dark felt hat at the easel Vincent van Gogh 1886 (source)

The second self portrait bears comparison with the late Rembrandt, gone is the fire from the eye, the damage both physical and mental is plain to see, and the eyes have a tired conquered look about them, a sense of regret. For all the bright colours of the palette, this is a painting of sadness and perhaps reflection on what should have been that was never fulfilled. Although the features look younger that the earlier portrait they are aged beyond belief. Unlike the works we looked at earlier Vincent has chosen to portray himself as an artist, in the first actually at the easel and in the second surrounded by the paraphernalia of the studio, but in the second portrait the paraphernalia of the studio are significantly less important than the subject of the painting almost a bright light on the horizon.

Figure 6 (3.2.1.6) Self portrait with bandaged ear Vincent van Gogh 1889 (source)

Figure 7 (3.2.1.7) Reflection with two children, Lucien Freud (source)

And now here is Lucien Freud, a man so brimming with self confidence that he actually looks down on the world two of his children (he had many children) are inset in the bottom left corner on a sort of medieval hierarchy of scale.

It is probably a very comfortable position from which to paint a self portrait, the paintbrush held out of view in the hidden right hand but there is no indication that Lucien is an artist. If I had to guess I would have said surgeon or debonair dilettante about town.

In the second self portrait Lucien is older but it is not the broken age of van Gogh or Rembrandt but the rugged face of a wiser man who has lost none of his confidence, he looks boldly from the canvas almost challenging the viewer to a fight, wondering slightly if he still has the strength of his youth and would you dare call it. The paint seems thicker with age almost in the same way as Rembrandt

Figure 8 (3.2.1.8) Reflection self portrait, Lucien Freud (source)

Figure 9 (3.2.1.9) The two Fridas, Frida Kahlo 1939 (source)

Last of all we have Frida Kahlo in a single canvas that Frida was two people at the one time can be hardly surprising as she was going through divorce from Diego Rivera at the time she painted this picture.

Frida suffered great pain in her life from childhood polio and injuries received from a bus crash early in her life, she does not depict herself as an artist but chooses to dress in some of her large collection of dresses, one the green Mexican dress, the other a white European dress. The Mexican Frida is the fighter the one who overcomes each new trial that life gives her while the European Frida looks confidently to the future safe in the fact that her Mexican alter ego will triumph in her struggle.

3.3.2

Painting 1 The Practice of painting

PART 3 Portrait and figure

Project 3 People in context

Exercise 2 Research point

Look at some paintings of figures in interiors from different periods and choose two or three pictures that particularly appeal to you. (You’ve already looked at some 17^th century Dutch examples in Part 2.) At least one of these should be from the twentieth or twenty first century. Consider what you think the artist’s intentions are and look at the technical and creative solutions that they have brought to the subject.

Figure 1 (3.3.2.1) Initial sketch for the cartoon.(source)

Figure 2 (3.3.2.2) The Burlington House cartoon, Leonardo da Vinci. (source)

This is a painting that particularly appeals to me, it lives in the National Gallery who class it as a drawing, but I feel the soft subtleness of the tones must have included the use of water and a brush at some stage of the process.

Leonardo’s intentions are plain to see he is examining the tones of his composition to give a three dimensional solidity to his figures. Underneath the swirly smoky surface of the picture are undoubtedly the anatomical constructional lines of his figures that are so convincing in the completed work.

It is difficult to say that these figures are in an interior but the strong chiaroscuro lighting would indicate that this is the case, how subtle is that to create an interior space merely by the direction of the light.

I have seen other cartoons, indeed I make them myself but I don’t think I have ever seen one as highly finished as this one as if it is more of a fill scale Tonal study than a cartoon. Technically it is a masterpiece of the use of materials to create an almost living breathing sculpture on a two dimensional plane. I have a small print of it in my living room and probably go to see it in the flesh at least a dozen times a year.

Figure 3 (3.3.2.3) Red muse study, Jenny Saville (source)

I saw this at an exhibition at the Ashmolean in Oxford just before New Year. This is classed as a study but it too deserves the tag cartoon, again there is evidence of brushwork in the work and the interior space is only suggested by the merest inclusion of a hint of skirting board and of course the light source.

Jenny appears to be searching for the solidity and instrumentality in much the same way as Leonardo was in the other example and even though these pictures were created five hundred years apart you can sense that both artists are wrestling with the same problem. Again there is the strong lineal quality of the anatomy and keen sense of three dimensions clearly evident in the work.

3.3.3

Painting 1 The Practice of painting

PART 3 Portrait and figure

Project 3 telling a story

Exercise 3 Telling a story

It was that time of year again when the life class had the model pose for three weeks so you could make a painting. The pose was arranged by the owner of the life class so I take no credit for that, but man what a story, you can make it up for yourself with lots of variants, the truth you have already heard, but the story in your head can make several movies all completely different.

The first one and a half hours I did two drawings to get things in order and before the second session I bought a suitably sized canvas 500 x 1000 millimetres to paint the picture on.

Figure 1 (3.3.3.1) Sketch, charcoal on A3 cartridge paper

Figure 2 (3.3.3.2) Sketch, charcoal on A3 cartridge paper

I drew the image onto the canvas and painted the picture in 3 hours over the next two life classes.

Figure 3 (3.3.3.3) Who done what to who and why, oil paint on canvas 500 x 1000 millimetres

The picture is now gone, a charity worker called and the picture was standing by the door, she admired it so much that I gave it to her. She came back two hours later and asked me to sign it in case I ever became famous. I signed it with a sharpie, so if I ever become famous she now has her provenance.

3.1.3 Tonal figure study

Painting 1 The Practice of painting

PART 3 Portrait and figure

Project 1 Observing the human figure

Exercise 3 Tonal figure study

One of the life classes that I attend had a three week pose which meant that allowing for coffee breaks I had four and a half hours to paint the model Clare. First off I did a sketch of the pose

Figure 1 (3.1.3.1) Initial sketch of pose graphite on A3

I decided that this would be quite fiddly to paint on the 40 x 50 canvas that I had brought with me so I decided to focus in on the pose and drew this.

Figure 2 (3.1.3.2) Compositional sketch of pose graphite on A3

I then set to with the paints and by the end of the first session I had produced this. I had decied while painting that the title of the Painting should be “Eurydice leaving Hades”

Figure 3 (3.1.3.3) First pass of painting water mixable oils on 40 x 50 canvas

I adjusted the picture of the painting in Photoshop to check how the tones were working, first in black and white and then in a ten step tonal scale

Figure 4 (3.1.3.4) First pass of painting black and white Photoshop image

Figure 5 (3.1.3.5) First pass of painting 10 tone Photoshop image

I was quite pleased with the tonal image and left it to dry until the next week’s class.

Figure 6 (3.1.3.6) Second pass of painting water mixable oils on 40 x 50 canvas

Again I did the Photoshop adjustments to check on the tones

Figure 7 (3.1.3.7) Second pass of painting black and white Photoshop image

Figure 8 (3.1.3.8) Second pass of painting 10 tone Photoshop image

Figure 9 (3.1.3.9) Eurydice leaving Hades water mixable oils on 40 x 50 canvas

In the last week all I had to do was to make my Eurydice look a bit dead, I didn’t really know how to do this, but I think I might just have pulled it off, I was going to grey out the rocks above her head but in the end decided that the purple looked a bit funereal and should stay. I used a limited palette of burnt umber, titanium white and dioxodine purple to save taking lots of tubes to the class and I am well pleased with the end result  My fellow classmates and Clare were in full agreement that my painting was an accurate depiction of a dead Eurydice. Thank you very much to Clare for her patience and stillness.

5.3,1 Research point

Watercolour Practice

PART 5 Widening your options

Project 3 Towards abstraction

Exercise 1 Research point

It is beyond the scope of this introduction to go into any detail on the ideas and historical context of the artistic goal of abstraction that developed currency over one hundred years ago. But you should research the ideas and the art of both the early pioneers of abstract painting and more recent artists.

The earliest abstract paintings were created by Hilma Af Klint at the end of the 19^th century, af Klint did not consider her abstract paintings to be paintings but diagrams of the messages she received from the higher powers. These paintings were never exhibited during her lifetime, and in her will she requested that they were not made public until 20 years after her death. In the event they were not exhibited until 1986 some 40 years after her death but they are now celebrated as the first abstract paintings ever created.

Whilst Klint found her inspiration in the spiritual world it is interesting to note that Wasilly Kandinsky, who until 1986 was credited as the first abstract painter, found his inspiration in music. It is interesting to note that both artists found their primary inspiration away from their primary discipline, Af Klint through séances and out of body experiences and Kandinsky through music experienced through his disease of synaesthesia. Synaesthesia gives the sufferer the ability to experience sounds as colours and shapes through some kind of neurological connection in the brain. Kandinsky used musical terms as titles to his paintings as a nod to this condition. Both artists were influenced heavily influenced by religio-philosophic theories of theosophy.

It is interesting to note that both of the innovators of abstract painting were creating abstract art as an out of body experience, this is a recurring theme through abstract painting where the colours shapes and tones and linear aspects of the paintings are influenced by a sort of unthinking of  representational art, a trancelike state.

Kandinsky said that “of all the arts, abstract painting is the most difficult. It demands that you know how to draw well, that you have a heightened sensitivity for colours and that you be a true poet the last is essential.”

A Poet is a very rare beast, a modern poet is invariably drug fuelled lyricist of a pop group, the First World War poets were most likely victims of what is now known as post traumatic stress and Byron’ I don’t even need to go there. In short the whole idea of abstract art is an other worldly experience, Pollock had his alcoholism and Rothko had his depression.

Sonia Delaunay said about her husband Robert Delaunay “In Robert Delaunay I found a poet. A poet who wrote not with words but with colours” Maybe it is a case of it takes one to know one but suffice to say that both Robert and Sonia grasped the baton of the abstract and carries it forward.

The baton came to Mondrian who developed his geometrical abstract paintings from his naturalistic paintings over a period of 3 years around 1910. It is fascinating to trace the development of his landscapes into his stark geometrical creations over this period. Whist all of the abstract painters so far had been previously representational painters Mondrian had done for abstract painting what Picasso and Braque had done for mainstream art some years earlier, he had applied a thought process to the business of creating abstracts, no trances, séances or colourful diseases just a thought process.

The next big thing was to introduce alcoholism into the mix, Jackson Pollock did this along with splatters, drips and action. At the time of his first action painting Peggy Guggenheim was funding his lifestyle and growing increasingly frustrated with his lack of application of paint to canvas. In response, over the course of one night, Pollock created Mural 1943 and gave birth to the abstract expressionist movement.

Back then to the thinking man’s abstract with the colour field painters. There is a fascinating documentary on you tube documenting the creation of the Seagram murals by Mark Rothko depression seems to play a big part in the process, not that all the colour field painters were depressed but like Van Gogh’s ear, it’s the one that makes the headlines.

The contemporary abstract painters I have managed to research on You tube include Fiona Rae, John Mclean, Paul Tonkin, Dan Perfect, and El Anatsui all seem very much in the thought based school regarding the process of abstraction but no doubt after their deaths lurid tales of their diseases mental states and ears will emerge.