|
Each month laterlife.com presents a feature from either The
Artist
or its sister publication, Leisure Painter.
Art masterclass
from The Artist, the monthly magazine for amateur
and semi-professional painters, giving practical instruction in
painting and drawing in watercolour, pastels and oils, as well
as news of art events, exhibitions and competitions open to
leisure artists;
www.theartistmagazine.co.uk
This month: an 'Artists of the world' feature from
the current edition of The Artist, the magazine
for amateur and semi-professional painters.
SAMPLE FEATURE FROM THIS MONTH'S ISSUE
|
Masterclass - Skin Deep
|
|
Paul Emsley, winner of the BP
Portrait Award 2007, describes his approach to animal
paintings and drawings and studies of the human face
|
|
Whatever the subject matter, whether the impressive form
of a rhinoceros, elephant, bull or similar animal, the
more delicate nature of a flower, or the
distinctive qualities of the human face, it is the
surface textures and characteristics that most interest
Paul Emsley, especially when these are influenced by the
play of light and shade. |
 Katherine,
chalk drawing |
|
"All forms are made up of different configurations and
densities," he says. "Light and shade pass over each in
the same way. By emphasising a brooding or settled
half-light I try to give a sense of mystery to my
images." Paul is best known for his paintings of
animals, which is a genre he began to specialise in
about 12 years ago, when he was living in South Africa.
In fact, his first animal subject, a chalk drawing made
in 1995, was one of the bulls on his brother-in-law's
farm. Since then, always using a limited palette and
exploring the drama of light and texture, he has painted
many different animals, often on a large scale and
mostly in watercolour, although also more recently in
oils and acrylics. |
|
"I see animals as walking landscapes," he explains.
"I try to emphasise veins, bones, folds and muscles.
They are interesting shapes within the overall form, but
they also have something very poignant to say. |
White
Rhinoceros, chalk drawing,
201/2x381/2in. (52x97.5cm) |
| And when drawing or painting an animal I
am often struck by a particular part, such as a tuft of
hair, an eye or an area of skin. There is a kind of
horror at its strange beauty and I am often startled by
its resemblance to parts of our own bodies." |
|
In 2002 Paul won first prize in the Singer &
Friedlander/Sunday Times Watercolour Competition with
his painting Rhinoceros, (above). This year,
encouraged by the fact that there is no longer an upper
age limit for the BP Portrait Award, he decided to
enter. His striking large-scale oil study of fellow
artist Michael Simpson, (right) won the
prestigious first prize — an impressive feat in itself,
but undoubtedly the more so when one considers that Paul
is not a portrait specialist and indeed has painted only
five portraits in the past five years. |
Michael
Simpson, oil on canvas, 541/2x44in.
(137.5x112cm).Winner of the BP Portrait Award 2007 |
"Now the success of this portrait opens up the
possibility of going back to the figure," he says,
"either in terms of portraits, which I enjoy doing, or
other figure work."
Form and character
On his studio wall Paul has a photograph of Earth
taken from space. It is a significant and arguably a
symbolic photograph because it seems to encapsulate his
philosophy and approach to painting: the concern with
surface, light and shade, and the context of the object
in space. For the portrait of Michael Simpson, for
example, the light source is from directly above, which
emphasises the surface qualities of the face. This
concern for the texture and the physical, outward
appearance is more important to Paul than attempting to
reveal the inner personality of the sitter.
"However, if it is a commissioned portrait you must
obviously aim for a likeness," he says. "For me this
means a likeness based on observation and subsequently
the carefully constructed form of the head. I aim for a
presentable image, though not one that is tinted with
flattery. I interpret purely from the standpoint of
visual form: if, as a consequence, this reflects the
character of the person that is almost an accident, I
would say.
"The Michael Simpson portrait measures 54x44in.
[137.5x112cm]. A large scale adds to the impact of the
image, I think. The convention is to paint a portrait
life-size, and although this might well make a fine
painting there will be nothing particularly striking or
different about it, in my view. A large head is visually
much more challenging and powerful.
"I chose Michael Simpson for the BP submission
because, apart from the fact that he is a well-known
artist, he is a very interesting man to look at. The
shape and form of his head are typically European, and
what I found especially interesting about him was that
his face seems to tell a story. It seems to carry
something about the history of Europe and also the
aesthetics of Europe: he is a very aesthetic person.
"Incidentally, as in my animal paintings, in the
portraits I leave the background as a fairly nebulous
space instead of depicting a particular environment. A
non-explicit background, while directing the focus to
the person or animal, infers a sense of stillness and
timelessness, and it enhances the feeling of mystery." |
Limited colour
Paul used to work entirely from reference sketches
and studies. However, in recent years, partly due to the
time required and the practicalities of this kind of
approach, and also because he has now built up a wealth
of knowledge and experience, he has generally used
photographs. |
Cola,
chalk drawing, 241/2x33in. (62.5x84.5cm) |
| "I take lots of photographs," he
explains, "probably 50 or 60 in Michael's case. Then I
work mainly from one or two. But essentially I regard
them as an aid, a starting point. I am not a
photo-realist, just someone who uses photographs. My
belief is that if Van Eyck, Rembrandt or Constable had
been able to work from photographs, they would have done
so. They are a time-saving device. For the portrait of
Michael the photographs took half an hour and the
painting five weeks. I could not have expected him to
sit in my studio for five weeks!" |
| This portrait was painted on ready-primed linen
canvas, remarkably working with just two colours: Mars
violet and blue black, plus an occasional touch of
white. Taking a photograph that gives him the essence
of the idea he has in mind for the painting, Paul makes
a small version on his computer and then either squares
it up or projects it onto the canvas surface. |
Yorkshire
Lady, oil on canvas, 271/2x271/2in. (70x70cm) |
| For this he uses an epidiascope. His
intention is not to make a strict copy of the photograph
but to use it as a guide to establish the general shape
of the head, the position of the eyes and so on. He
usually starts with the eyes, taking whatever reference
information he needs from the appropriate section of the
photograph, which he now enlarges on the computer. From
the eyes he moves on to another part of the face,
essentially finishing each area as he goes. Then, having
considered all the necessary detail and surface texture,
he reassesses the light and dark qualities. With the
Michael Simpson portrait, for example, he wanted a more
contrasting shadow on the right-hand side of the face —
much darker than that in the photograph.
Paul's painting technique relies on applying thin
layers of colour one over another until he is satisfied
that the depth and 'glow' of the colour is what he
wants. For this he often uses a trimmed fan brush. All
the while he is evaluating and adjusting the tones until
the right harmony and balance are achieved. In some of
the watercolour paintings, for example, there may be up
to 100 of these successive washes of colour.
The palette colours are very limited: "But it is
surprising what colour effects are possible," Paul
enthuses. "For instance, for the warm flesh tones I
might use just Mars violet, adding a dash of white if I
want to soften the tone. And where I want the bluer
parts of the skin or areas of shadow, I will add a tiny
amount of blue black to the Mars violet. The variety
comes from how much the colour is diluted, the extent of
the overlaid colour, and the proportions of colours used
in the mixes.
"In my experience, the fewer colours you use, the
more shocking are the reactions when you do make subtle
changes. Until you begin to experiment, you don't fully
realise how much variety can be achieved with just two
colours!"
This Masterclass is from the
January 2008 issue of The Artist |
laterlife interest
The above article is part of the features section of laterlife.com
called
laterlife interest.
laterlife interest
contains a variety of articles of interest for visitors to
laterlife.com written by a number of experienced and new
journalists.
It includes both one off articles and also associated
regular columns of a more specialist nature such as
Healthwise,
Talkback,
Gardener's Diary,
and a beauty section called
Looking good
in later life.
There's also
'It
could be you' by Maggi Stamp laterlife's counsellor on human
relationships.
Also don't forget to take a look at our regular IT
question and answer section called
YoucandoIT
by IT trainer and author Jackie Sherman.
To view the latest articles click on
laterlife interest or to
view indexes to previous articles click on
laterlife interest index.
To search for articles about a certain topic, use the site search
feature at the top of the navigation.
|
