Exercise: Head and Shoulder Portrait

In this exercise, we are asked to decide on the scale, position of the sitter, background and light source.  We are also to decide on the colour of the background/clothes the sitter is wearing and what effect different colours would have on the face and the relationship to the background of the picture.

As this is another self-portrait, I decided to use a photograph in order to choose a different angle for my face (see early notes about eyesight!).  As my last self-portrait had a very smooth, blended finish and monochrome tones, I decided that I wanted to try to achieve a much looser feel to this portrait, and also to expand on the colour used.

On my last visit to the National Portrait Gallery (BP portrait awards), I viewed Self-Portrait (oil on canvas mounted on board, 350mm x 400mm) by Roni Taharlev an Israeli portrait artist http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/exhibitions/bp-portrait-award-2012/the-exhibition/exhibitors/bp-2012-exhibitor-42.php  The blurb on the website states: “Roni Taharlev studied at the Jerusalem Studio School. Her work has been seen in group exhibitions in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Her solo exhibition of portraits inspired by the arts of ancient Greece, Fayum, Rome and the Renaissance was seen at Gallery Livia, Jerusalem.  This self-portrait is part of Taharlev’s ongoing series of works inspired by the art of the past.”  Unfortunately, even thought she has a website, there is very little information about the artist on her aims/ways of working.

The muted tones and loose brushwork originally attracted me to this portrait, particularly the way in which she has used the more neutral background colour to set off the flesh colour the face (even though, if you squint there is little tonal variation between the two in places).  There are, however, also areas of quite bright colour, especially around the eyes, nose and chin, as well as a patch of red in the hair (scarf?) that draws the eye around the portrait.

My natural colouring is fairly pale, but I have very dark eyes and hair so, if completing a realistic portrait, it will always have strong contrasts.  I felt I would like to move towards a softer feel, with a smaller tonal range and to try to lose the edges of the features.  This was also influential in my decision to keep the background and clothing in the same colours used on the face (rather than the actual black of the jumper and pale walls behind me).

I decided that, to avoid being too concentrated on the detail of the features, I would make a charcoal sketch, and then work from this rather than the photograph (which was not brilliant quality anyway - iphone!).  The view is almost profile, with just a small area of the cheekbone and eye showing and is of the opposite side to my first self-portrait.  In terms of composition, I also wanted to widen the view slightly by including more of my shoulders and to add a little detail of the clothing worn. 

My first thought on how to encourage a looser style would be to use a canvas pad rather than the oil painting paper I have been using for portraits, mainly because the canvas paid has a more open, pronounced weave, and is slightly larger to allow freer brushwork.

While thinking about how best to approach a looser and more textured feel to the portrait, I remembered I had done a sample (which I didn’t end up using) when experimenting for the “conveying character” portrait.  This was applying an acrylic texture medium (impasto paste) and then painting over with oils, basically for speed, as oils applied that thickly take an age to dry.  It also stops you being too fiddly and precise, because the texture prevents you from creating too precise a line or blending too carefully.

The Taharlev portrait uses muted colours which I think are more earth-tone based so I experimented with colour mixes using my earth colours: Indian Red, Burnt Umber, Raw Umber and Raw Sienna (plus the addition of a little Lemon Yellow).  I began with a gradation of Indian Red & White, then created various mixes using Lemon Yellow, French Ultramarine, Raw Sienna and  Raw Umber.

I then created another page of gradations of Raw Umber, Burnt Umber and Raw Sienna plus white.

Some of these colours appeared either too pink or too much like the “flesh tone” you can buy (which really isn’t!), but after I had mixed a gradation of raw umber and placed a mid-tone of this next to the Indian Red tones, I felt the combination of the cooler (and grey-green tinged) Raw Umber contrasted well with the Indian Red mixes and neutralised them down somewhat.  I also placed a group of colours next to each other (loosely) as well as overpainting various tones to see the results. 

Again, so that I could work more loosely, I decided against drawing the portrait onto the canvas first, but instead drew grid lines onto the canvas as a guide.  I then covered the entire canvas with the acrylic impasto medium using an old brush and short, random strokes to add a little texture of the surface. 

The final colours I decided to use were (all mixed with titanium white):

1 - Indian Red

2 - Indian Red & a small amount of lemon yellow

3 - Indian Red & a larger quantity of lemon yellow

4 - Raw Umber

In the first session (approx 3 hours), I wanted to complete as much of the face as I could while the paint was wet.  I began with the forehead and hairline and worked my way down the face, leaving the detail of eye and nose until I was sure I was happy with the rest of the face.  I applied the paint with a small and medium filbert and then loosely blended with an old, rough bristle brush.

In terms of the colours used for different areas, I used more of the Indian Red/Lemon Yellow mix (no 3) on the forehead next to the hairline, more of the pinky Indian Red (no 1) around the eyes, cheeks and nose (because these areas naturally are more highly pigmented, and the Raw Umber mix (no 4) for around the jawline and shadow detail.  The main skin tone areas were the lighter tones of no 2 and no 3.

For the jumper, I loosened the paint with turps and, using the more yellow of the mixes, loosely painted in the detail of the jumper.  To depict the ribbing, I simply used the white of the canvas to create the detail, quickly moving my brush in a zig-zag manner to create the lines.  The background was created simply by scumbling the paint, using lighter tones on the right of the face and darker ones to blend in with the hair at the nape.

At this stage, I realised the ear was out of scale and too large and so waited for the paint to dry before correcting it.  I also slightly darkened some areas of the hair and added wispy strands around the ear to soften the outline slightly.

I think this is the most accurate self-portrait I have done so far – it really does look like me!  In the last self-portrait, I really struggled with the eyes and lips, but I think applying the paint more softly has really helped here (especially on the lips, which are almost lost into the colour of the chin).  I have also managed not to create such harsh edges; adding the texture to the canvas before painting really helped here.

There area some areas where I am not altogether happy with the colours (think the neck shadow is too bright, and possibly the yellower tones on the forehead may be a little bright), but overall I feel the painting works – there are no areas which really jar.  By leaving the canvas its natural colour allowed me to use the white in the painting (transparent areas of the jumper and hair especially) to create some of the highlights and almost creates a glow in the painting.  I really like the colour combination – red is my favourite colour anyway, and I think this portrait has a very autumnal feel about it, which is quite apt bearing in mind the time of year.