Three Portraits

The three portraits side by side. Oldest on the left, middle on the right, and last one in the middle..

Over the past few weeks I’ve been painting the same photo. This is not unusual for me as I can often take months or weeks painting a picture, however this time it’s strange as it’s turned into three paintings. 

In days past I have avoided returning to reference photos once I’ve used them. Basically there’s a thrill and freshness to painting something for the first time, like reading a book you go on a journey that keeps you reading and keeps me painting. Looking to do the same thing again just didn’t have the same thrill for me, but much like a book, coming back to a photo you can find new things, different things. 

I actually painted this photo because I’m working on new skills. I follow a few very wonderful artists who are supportive enough in the community to share their “how to do it” videos for free. But I want to call out Miriam Paints in particular for being an exceptional teacher. The way she explains her process makes sense to me and helped me understand what I needed to try. Her videos encouraged me to have another practice at portraiture “alle prima” (wet on wet/all at once). I’m traditionally more of a glaze style painter, using thin layers to build depth and colour, but some of my favourite artists are alla prima like Sargent, Manet and Rembrandt (to an extent), so I wanted to give it another go. This was my first shot at the flower girl portrait, and I have to admit that while it was great fun and I’m really happy with how she turned out, I lost the likeness. In my hurry to paint while still wet, I lost my proportions and I lost my daughter! 

I have been trying to improve capturing likenesses by eye. When I paint or draw commissions I have some tricks which help me ensure I’m being faithful to the subject, like cross referencing using my ipad to ensure the eye is high enough, or the angle of the chin is right. However I want to learn better ways to work by eye, to rely on the iPad checks less. As I work more towards life drawing an iPad isn’t going to work, so here I go again, practice, practice, practice. 

When I returned to my photo I decided it was worth another go. I spent a bit longer making sure my proportions were more in line, that the expression a little neater. I wasn’t able to complete in one sitting and had to return to adjust the eyes a little and add highlights after it had dried, but it was better! Better, but still not quite right. She looked like my daughter today, not from two years ago when the photo was taken. Somehow I had aged her. I love this painting and I’m sure it’ll end up framed on my wall, but it’s still not right, so once again I taped the paper onto the board.

For my third attempt I printed out my reference photo much bigger. I took my time, went back to more of the glaze approach. Double, triple, quadruple checked my dimensions, proportions, plum lines. I sneaked a few checks with my iPad and adjusted. The paints were drying so I mixed with more oil for thinner layers, allowed stranger colours to feature in the glazes. 

This is how I have three paintings from the same photo, but putting them together you might not think they were the same girl. Still work to be done, but man what a journey. Now my son is asking for one of him, so maybe I’ll do it all over again.