LUCY COOKSON PAINTS A PORTRAIT
Lucy is an artist with 20 years experience including working
in Florence.
She works in various media and for us painted a Rembrant
style portrait in oils.
Normally this would
take her several months but Lucy showed us as much of her approach and technique as is
possible in one evening.
She uses Jacksons 30 x 40 canvases and Michael Harding oil
paints which she dilutes with walnut oil (again from Jacksons) to speed up
drying.
A basic ground was applied of Burnt Umber and Ivory Black
put on with a rag and then the excess wiped off. The brushes she uses are hog
which she wraps in a damp tissue before leaving to dry to retain the shape.
To start the portrait
Lucy first draws a rough outline of the portrait using a No 4 brush and a mix
of Raw Umber and Ivory Black with a speck of Alizarin Crimson blended together
using a palette knife (this stops paint getting embedded in the base of the
brush). Lucy holds the brush at the far end of the handle and stands away from
the canvas. Then she puts in the main features and main shadow areas in the
background.
Flesh tones are
mixed from Ivory Black, Burnt Umber, Cadmium Red and Yellow Ochre. Shadow
colours are the same but no Yellow
Ochre. Other colours used in mixes are Ultramarine ,Titanium White, Naples
Yellow and Lemon Yellow.
Tones are judged against each other and Lucy uses two
brushes one for the light tones and one for dark. Highlights are placed on the
nose, lips, forehead and chin. Blue is added to the darkest colour to paint in
the eyes. The pupil is placed as a dot and then expanded and the white of the
eye painted in flesh tones which are lighter near the centre of the eye. The point
of the curve of the eyelid is above the iris.
Cast shadow is used
under the nose to bring it out but not over emphasise it.
The top lip is darker than the bottom and the edge forms a
triangle with the nose lines.
The tones for the background are chosen from the tones in
the face. The paint is mixed and then checked using paint on the palette knife
and holding it against the model. The background is not painted down to the
bottom - the darkest part is reserved for the shoulder area.
Although not finished this was a beautiful portrait and Lucy
had explained her technique in detail with plenty of hints and tips.
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| Lucy and Portrait |
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| Half time image |
Nine members enjoyed the visit to the city art gallery in January. Mary-Anne and Issabelle Toop were welcomed to this, their first visit, to the TAS Adventurous Artists sketching group.
