A Long Road Traveled (The Preacher) - A Portrait

With almost 20 hours on this portrait, I think I've reached an end.   It's on canvas taped to a board, so in a few days...maybe this weekend, I'll decide on a final size and stretch it.  I wouldn't be surprised if I find a few more things to tweak, but for now, I'm done. Time to sign it. 

If you love to paint portraits, this is the kind of subject you wait and wait for. What a wonderful face.   In the high quality photo reference that I used, the colors in this gentleman's skin are amazing.  There are golds and reds and oranges and the highlights are amazing blues.  The biggest challenge is not to get too caught up in all that wonderful color and let the painting become a patchwork quilt- beautiful but not unified.  That wasn't easy.  The other issue for me was maintaining the overall darkness of the face, even though on close examination so much of it is beautiful bold color.  I used a lot of what I learned from Suchitra Boshle on the control of values and I think it helped.  (http://suchitrabhosle.com/)  Although I've only had a few sessions with Suchitra, I've become acutely aware of values in portrait painting, thanks to her instruction and example.  I've drawn on another teacher, Dan Edmondson, as well.  (http://www.danieledmondson.com/)  All through this painting, Dan's admonition to "Make beautiful brushstrokes" has been constantly in mind.  I've resisted smoothing and 'licking' - as much as I can! - and instead I've consciously struggled to maintain brush strokes by mixing a color, applying it and leaving it alone.   I'm trying Dan, I'm trying!

But above all I hope I have captured the warm and gentle spirit of this man that shines through in the photo reference...

Here's the final portrait....(The whites behind the head slightly to the left are not there....I continue tos stuggle to get faithful photographs. sigh) 

A Long Road Traveled   Oil on linen   20 x 16 approx. 

Below are some notes and a picture of The Preacher in progress.
At that point I've got about 12 - 15 hours in it:

I'm nearing the end, but I'd like to let it sit and set-up for awhile before I make the final finishing strokes.  I'll add highlights to the crown of the head and a few other spots like the bridge of the nose.  It's amazing how that can add dimension and life to a portrait.  It's also amazing how easy it is to overdo it and mess up the whole thing!  I can see that the tip of the nose needs more modeling so I'll spend some time there.  I may also continue to tweak the background a bit.  Generally I'll drag it into the head to lose edges here and there, but perhaps not in this painting. In fact, I may try to push the background away to make the head come forward, increasing the three dimensional effect. Finally, stepping away for a bit and looking at photographs of the painting is a great way to see drawing errors and areas that need more work.  But it's almost complete so I'd though I'd show a WIP (work in progress) photo.  (Not to mention that I need something to POST!) 

The Preacher WIP  oil on linen approx. 20 x 16

and here is my oil sketch 'block in'

The Preacher  WIP  Initial Block In  Oil on linen

My Art Site: Bruce Hancock Fine Art

Carmichael Presbyterian Church

I felt antsy yesterday afternoon, and though it was getting late, I threw my painting gear into the car and drove a couple of blocks to the Carmichael Presbyterian Church on Marconi just West of Fair Oaks Blvd.  This stark white complex of structures is a real eye catcher.  This was the first time I've tried to paint it.

I used a lot of the techniques learned in the Terry Muira workshop, but this time I toned the canvas with a mix of yellow ochre and a bit of transparent oxide red.  I also did a relatively careful drawing of the building to establish the area I wanted to capture and to establish the perspective as carefully as I could.  Time passed very quickly and the sun light on the building changed faster than I could paint.  I tried to keep from "chasing the light", but it was a challenge.

This quick little sketch worked well in some places and fell flat in others but it was fun.  I'll return again when I have a bit more time. 

Carmichael Presbyterian Church  12" x 9" oil on canvas panel. 

Painting in Winters with Terry Muira

Once you've taken a few art workshops, you begin to learn that there are good artists who aren't very effective teachers and artists who are reasonably good teachers, but have a limited amount to teach.  Terry Muira is one of the exceptions to this general observation.  He is a very fine artist with so much to teach and with the the ability and personality to share it effectively.  I had the chance to learn that first hand this last weekend as I took my first workshop from Terry.  If you read Terry's blog Studio Notes ( http://terrymiura.blogspot.com/ ) you'll begin to understand, I think.  He is so generous with his time, information and lessons-learned on his blog, and that is reflected many times over in the workshop atmosphere.  Terry's book, En Plein Aire, is handed out free to all participants and it is a treasure trove of information for any plein air painter. It's just the first hint of the generosity and sharing to come during the rest of the workshop.

Terry Muira painting a demo in Winters, CA

We drove to the small town of Winters to paint urban scenes.  On Friday, we were there only for a half day and Terry did a demo.  It was very overcast and even slightly cold....a real change from our long hot summer.  The lack of light and dark shapes made the demo a bit more of a challenge, but Terry was up to it.





The next day was bright and sunny and I was chomping at the bit to paint.  I had been impressed with Terry's approach to the urban scene - in particular the care with which he approached each brushstroke - and I was anxious to get to it.  I painted two16 x 12 panels for the day.  At the moment, I have a picture of only the first.  The painting was my attempt to follow very carefully Terry's process for establishing shadow mass first followed by a careful and deliberate addition of color, shape and, of course, junk!  My success was spotty, but I had a blast! 

 

A Sunny Fall Day in Winters   16" x 12" oil on canvas panel

I'll be posting additional paintings from the workshop in the next day or so, along with additional comments on my experience and what I learned from Terry. 

Kayaker in the Natomas Lake Slough

This is my friend Steve aka Sterling Saguaro kayaking on Lake Natomas.  It was about 4 PM and the sun was intense, the water cold and smooth as glass.  The kayaks cut through the water soundlessly.  I snapped this picture from my kayak as we glided along. 

I laid out this painting in a value study first using markers. I followed the photo closely since the composition was pretty good as is.  I decided to make the background very simple.  During the painting, I did experiment with suggesting more bushes and trees along the bank, but it seemed too busy and unnecessary.  Right now I'm inclined to leave it as is.  We'll see.

I concentrated on strong color and heavy paint and bush strokes in the focus of interest - the kayak and paddler.  The rest of the painting was done with transparent colors and left very smooth and thin.

Kayaking in the Slough  Oil on 12" x 24" stretched canvas

This is the value sketch I made with markers to get a feel for how I'd paint the subject.  I think it helped me a lot.