The Eyes Have It



I felt inspired, in part by Sky Arts' Portrait Artist of the Year, to get out my acrylic paints and have a go. 

In the absence of a life model I used a selfie taken the day before the last of my peroxide was cut off in favour of natural silver- quite a momentous event after twenty years of increasingly yellow locks- and the result is the portrait bottom left, which took about three hours. It went well, considering I haven't painted seriously since A-level art back in 1991(long before I ever went blonde, come to think of it... it seems I'm returning to my roots in more ways than one). 

Elated, I needed other faces to paint and my friends were happy to oblige. I don't know the detail of their faces as I do my own, so the pace was slower. The thing about women my own age is that our faces are 'lived-in' without necessarily having actual wrinkles: challenging to paint.

Rosie's impishness (centre bottom) was captured to my satisfaction after four attempts in paint, and for Cassie (bottom right) I made lots of preparatory sketches in pencil and chalk, which achieved a decent likeness, but I'm still not entirely happy with the way I put the paint down. Her photo was highly lit by bright sunshine, flattening the image somewhat. Finally I painted Auntie Winnie (top); my first attempt at an older person. I'm happy with her eyes which definitely show her 86 years of spirit and wisdom, and the general likeness is good- after all, it's a painting, not a photo- but the less said about the nose, the better, in my opinion!

I'm learning all the time, and, without any exaggeration, enjoying this process in a way I haven't enjoyed anything in decades. Portraits in acrylics have their pros and cons- blending is difficult because they dry so quickly, but layering different colours can create beautiful effects, in the same way I layer fabrics for my textile work. I'm trying oils next. Life is good. 

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Four unfinished portraits: acrylic on multimedia art board.

 

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