January 2008
Male Portrait One
by Allison Alexandra
I was inspired to paint this portrait of an interesting male subject with a decorative European, Southwestern motif in the background. I thought that the lighting created intriguing shadows on the face. I also enjoyed the juxtaposition of warm and cool colors.
This portrait was selected off the internet for inclusion in the Museum quality hard cover coffee table art book entitled "International Contemporary Masters" by Worldwide Art Books. This anthology
is
due out
January 2010.
Please Scroll down to find a synopsis of the process of
painting this portrait.
"Transcendent Dream"
24" x 18", Acrylic
by Allison Alexandra
One. Initial Consultation
The first step was to arrange a short session 30-60 minutes with this subject in order to gain photo reference for the portrait.
Rapidly, over a hundred photos were taken in various positions of head and hands in different seating arrangements.
The advent of modern photography is a great advantage when subjects are not that available. After about 50 photos, I recall the subject telling me that he found this a relatively painless process.
photo reference
Two. Sketch
The advantage of a painting over a photo is the opportunity to rearrange compositional elements back in the studio.
Here is a charcoal sketch that served as a map for the rest of the painting. The subject gave me some feedback that he loved this sketch.
In this situation, the cabinet was shifted slightly to the left. This helped to avoid an uncomfortable tangent with the side of the subject's head. Now, the dark shadow from the cabinet helps to create contrast with the interesting face.
The lamp was made shorter to avoid the long vertical of the pole in the background, and the pillow was angled slightly to add interest. The couch length was extended a little bit in order to avoid another unwanted tangent with the lamp and its shadow.
Three. Beginning First Layer
Inspired by the deep warms and cools of this scene, I approached the foundational stage of this portrait more playfully. Background and foreground elements are painted, paying attention to the lights, darks, and basic hues.
Four. Second Layer
The rest of the canvas is covered. In order for the head to be the focal point, the light value of the knee has been toned down. Care was taken to make the foreground colors more intense than the background colors. This helped to create a sense of depth.
Eventually, I also added a dark Prussian blue to differentiate a smoky jacket from his shirt. Some subtle purples and greens were added to accentuate light hitting the folds.
These adjustments aided in making the focal point of the head more inviting, which is detailed in the upcoming stage.
Five. Close-up Head
Here is a close-up of the head. I worked to create subtle shifts of light and darks for the hair by adding some cool blues, grays, and browns. I had a new set of little sable brushes for this purpose.
Detail was added to capture the striking blue eyes. One eye appeared open and one partially closed. It took time to represent this unusual and dreamy look.
When I met with the subject, his hair seemed to be flying in 50 directions. I remember him saying that he never brushes his hair. I was surprised but also realized that this epitomized his eccentric personality. The challenge I saw then was to balance and soften the free flowing curls with some organization, or to tame the chaos.
Six. Close-up Hand
The hand was tricky, especially with the angle and foreshortening of the pinkie. I tried to catch the warm tones along with the off-white translucency of the skin tone.
I was glad to achieve smooth transitions among the subtle pinks, reds, siennas, grays of the skin tone and the natural-looking nails. The fingers are soft, but the bone structure is sound and
evident underneath.
By the time the hand was complete, viewers seemed to say that the
hand "glowed". I loved painting the intricate pillow. The colors, design, and texture were so interesting to me.
Seven. Complete Portrait
This image has been further developed. The key was how to accentuate the face and complementary hand, while making the rest of the elements stay in the background.
If you notice, the strongest areas of contrast are in the foreground. The front shadows are darker in value than the wall and cabinet shadows. The strong, cool blues of the torso stand out well against the warm, earth tones of the couch and pillow.
A word about texture: there were many different textures in this portrait. I tried to represent each one. The jacket was thicker than the shirt. The watch included shiny silver metal. The orange couch was a soft corduroy. The pillow had a wonderful burgundy velvety feel to its back and brightly-colored woven texture on the front.
Being accurate with the details of light and shadow are particularly important in describing folds, thickness of fabric, and reflections.
A final touch....a transparent warm orange from the couch was glazed over the background wall to bring unity the painting. There was now an integration of light moving through the piece.