Thoughts on Portraiture

I am passionate about my work and it must have real substance and depth to ring true with a feeling of weight of limbs and of a skeleton beneath the flesh. I feel that my purpose is to interpret and represent my subject as the individual they are, not only with a spot-on facial likeness, but also to capture the ‘very person’ with the intrinsic gestures they make and the stances they hold which are enormously contributory to our recognizable individuality

I have always had a deep love and understanding of humanity and I think it is this instinct that enables me able to capture individual personalities by exercising a very intense but un-wordy thought process as I paint.  As I work, I feel as if the person is simply being given to me, as if I am being used as a tool in the same way that I am using my brushes and pallet. Our whole experience of life and who we really are is in our faces and with this insight I can portray the actual intrinsic spirit of my subject.

Because I am so aware of my position as a collaborator in the making of a portrait, rather than the creator of it, I have no need contrive to put a personal stamp on the work, although somehow every aspect of me and who I am is in it. I let go, trust my instincts and allow the personality of my subject to dictate how the portrait should be. As everything pertains to this individual, each portrait is very personal and entirely unique.

I never have a struggle with likenesses; the individual faces are just there even from the drawing stage, it’s quite uncanny. I think I must have always really looked at faces and understood them. The spot-on likeness is the most important aspect for my clients and as all my work comes by word of mouth, if I didn’t have this gift and wasn’t trusted and appreciated for it, I simply wouldn’t be painting portraits.

I have come to understand that portraits are very special and their purpose is not so much for the subjects themselves but for those who love and respect them. It is also clear that the value of a portrait unfolds as time passes; the subject is held and remembered in a moment that becomes the past. In that way, my portraits are heirlooms and I feel very privileged to be able to paint them.

 

Mentors

Perhaps not having had any formal art training has stood me in good stead.  I could have been too susceptible to influences as to who’s work I should be admiring and instead I have been free to make my own choices.  

I love the painters who are governed by light…for me it is all about light, the way it falls, what it illuminates and how it throws back colour. If I have ever really studied anything I have studied light and colour and it was my experience of living in Brazil that taught me to be brave with it. Shape and balance are fundamentally important in my work and this aspect I leave entirely to the instinct of what feels right.

I adore Rembrandt; the pages of my Rembrandt books are stuck together with paint as I grab these books when painting to get some understanding of how the master saw it. I love the colours of flesh that Freud uses and knowing one or two of his subjects personally I am astounded by the way he captures them so acutely, the hidden part of them that would be impossible to describe. Degas is my favourite designer, I think we ‘see’ in a similar way. I can add Velazquez; Titian; Van Dyck; Whistler; Matisse; Picasso; Wyeth; Sargent; Sickert; Spear; Hambling; Schiele and loads more, but you get the picture.

Technique

‘Works are made using oil paint on linen canvas.

The portraits when reproduced on a smaller scale don’t entirely convey the texture and brushwork of the painting. This life-sized example is a better indication of how the paint looks on the actual work.

Using big brushes, I work with wet paint directly onto wet paint, which makes the paint sit beautifully on itself.  This means hitting exactly the right colour, shape and tone with every brush stroke and gives the painting a feeling of energy and competence.

Actual size detail from the portrait of Bill Cash MP