In the lull before I start a new work this weekend, I thought I would talk about the painting that is on the frontpage of my website, www.michewatkins.com. I spent 5 years in Cape Town and came to love, like the rest of the world, Nelson Mandela, known as Madiba locally. I particularly liked his eyes (like one of my other portraits of Amy Winehouse) and the gentleness, but also steely resolve, which I wanted to paint to the best of my ability. I used a photo from the internet of course, not having recourse to getting to him to sit for me(!) and think I managed to achieve my objective. For some reason I have a dislike of using brown paint and avoid it as much as possible. Obviously for Madiba’s skin colour I had to use some, but I added in shades of pinks, purples and violets wherever possible. These days with a bit more confidence and experience, I would also have added in some of my beloved Kings Blue Deep (Michael Harding) to add interest. Often the best part of a painting for me is putting in the delicate highlights at the end, the little white in…
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I am almost sorry to have finished this painting as I have much enjoyed the working of it. I think it has been the contrast of lights and darks which have, as always, drawn me in. The end result is a much more interesting composition and one which I will return to in my next work. I added in touches of one of my favourite Michael Harding paints, Kings Blue Deep, right at the end which I feel rounds off the painting. Yes, I know the girl does not have blue cheeks, but doesn’t it look more fun this way?! Michael Harding paints are certainly dearer in price, but the pigments are out of this world and I use less of them as the paint is thicker. I would also recommend Rosemary & Co’s brushes which are again, slightly pricier, but so much better and last longer (I think). The wedding ring is back on the table to, hopefully, make the viewer think and hopefully make up their own mind as to what is happening. This is why I so like painting narrative figurative works as opposed to straight portraiture which is what I used to do. There is a…
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So the best part begins for me, going down to smaller brushes for adding in the detail. Whenever I start a painting, after a week or so, I look at what I have achieved with bigger brushes and much looser work and think I should leave it like that. But the fine artist in me always wins out and I go for the detail. Maybe I should try and stop at the early stages with a painting – feedback welcome here ? I have been putting in highlights to the left of the painting as the composition is lit from a window which I felt did not help the work by being put into the picture. I have softened the light from the overhead lamp by introducing more muted shades of yellow ochre to compliment the purple shades above the girl’s head – complimentary colours always work by the way, Google the colour wheel for more on this aspect of colour. Next week should see the final details of the wine glass, mirror etc., and of course the gold ring! I have added in some detail on the shoes but am not sure whether I will keep that bit of…
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Having asked in last week’s blog for any ideas for a title for this painting, someone has come back with the brilliant title of the ‘Daily Diva Dash’. Out of the window went all my romantic ideas of the wedding ring and the pros and cons for the viewer of a possible affair in this work. Instead, the daily task of looking your best and I think there could be a series of paintings here (if I can persuade my model to pose yet again for me!). So thank you WyzappleGal on Twitter for the clever title. The colour is not completely accurate yet via the photo I have put up and I apologise for this. The table cloth is a muted pale green and I shall eventually put some white polka dots on it ….or not, depending on my mood at the time of painting haha. I keep making the background darker and still think it could be darker still, but will wait a few days to review it. I use linseed oil with this, adding it to the oil paint so that I get a hopefully, light glaze. Glazes are brilliant as you still see the original paint…
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After struggling so hard with my last painting (‘Envy’ see previous Blog) because of no defined light source, I am really enjoying this new work. Very early days yet, but I have a good feeling about it. I was really pleased with the composition of ‘Envy’ and the end result worked, but this painting feels so easy in comparison. So….my studio is relatively small, and is also where I live, so am mostly confined to photographs to work from. In an ideal world, I would always work from life, but this is just not possible at the moment (I need a gallery to take me on lol) so photos rule for now. I teach life drawing locally, and asked one of my models to come and pose for me in a series of poses that I set up and this is the result of one of them. I shall emphasise the lights and darks more as I go on – again Caravaggio comes to mind here – and I have put more red into the model’s top to bring in an element of colour interest. As yet this work is untitled, and I would welcome help here if anyone has…
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This has taken me longer than I anticipated for two reasons. The first is that I used a snapshot to work from and it is always difficult to find the detail in a quick photograph like this. When I used to paint portrait commissions I would always ask if I could be given a good, clear head and shoulder shot of the sitter so that I could really get down to the details etc. The second, and possibly more important reason for me, is that there is no direct light source, ie. definite lights and shades, so the overall effect is for me a bit bland. Not the sitters, I hasten to say, nor the composition, which I love, just the lighting. When I set up a composition using a model, I will always try to have a defined light source coming from one side, wherever possible. This then produces wonderful lights, tones, shades etc. Have a look at Caravaggio’s work on Google to see what I mean. Having said all this, I am happy with the final result, although I feel I may have overworked the details as a result. Looser brush next time…. The painting is available…
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So Week 3 and nearly done here. I have been messing around with Photoshop trying to get the colours accurate for the purposes of this Blog and my Twitter feed, but am not totally there, unfortunately, so please bear with me. I wish I was better on the computer….. The dress on the left is more turquoise than the blue shown here and I have changed the colour of the girl’s shoes accordingly to compliment the dress. Have also added touches of that turquoise mix into the curtains behind, which help pull the work together. Next week I will tone down the lemon shade of the belt as I think it is too ‘in your face’ at the moment. I have added the same turquoise touches and some of the lilac from the chairs into the girl on the right’s white dress to make it stand out a bit more from the chairs and background white. Have also added in a touch of yellow ochre from the blind to the white walls again to show subtle (hopefully!) differences between chairs, lilac chairs and white dress. I still feel the lilac chairs are competing a bit too much with the figures,…
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Getting somewhere this week, as was not sure I could pull it off last week. A handy tip I pass on, for what it is worth, is about perspective. If you feel you are struggling with this, or just feel something is not right, either hold the painting upside down, or hold it up to a mirror. You will straightaway see where you are going wrong. I think the eye gets too used to what it is seeing and can’t see the errors, whereas we all know the mirror can’t lie… At the life class I run locally, I sometimes suggest a student holds a small mirror to their shoulder so they can see their painting and the model at the same time. They will then (hopefully!) see immediately where they are going wrong. Interesting eh? For some reason, I have a horror or browns and greens in my paintings, and am not sure why. Maybe it is because I am a Piscean water sign and I always lean to the blues, purples and lights, I don’t know. So with the floor in this painting, I know I have to have it dark to contrast with the lilac chairs, but…
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Always good to start a new painting. This was a completely random photo of my daughter and a friend at a wedding and I just thought it made an excellent composition. The woman adjusting her new glitzy shoes is happily gazing into the mid-distance dreaming. Well actually, at the moment she doesn’t, she looks like a mad woman, but stick with me over the next few weeks I will get it right! Her friend, however, is looking covetously at the shiny shoes, even though she has her own (probably new) shoes. The title ‘Envy’ just jumped out at me, or possibly ‘Wedding Shoe Envy’, not sure yet. We all have so many pairs of shoes in our wardrobes, but a woman can never have enough of them. I do promise this will be the last painting relating to shoes for a while…. As regards colour, in the photo the colours are rather sombre, and I don’t do sombre if I can help it. The dress on the left therefore, will probably be a brilliant turquoisoe and I think the wedding chairs will be lilac with a sheen to them. At the moment the woman on the right has a white…
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