Portrait of Brian
 

I would very much appreciate feedback from any of the members about this portrait I did recently from life.

It was done over a period of several months with Brian posing a couple of hours each time. Probably a total of 25 hours with him and countless hours spent refining and repainting from memory.

Amanda,

I am not qualified to critique anyone's work but I had to write to tell you about my first impression. Something told me this wasn't painted from a photo, and what ever it is, I like it and I hope to get it someday.

Now I have a question for you. Could you post some close ups? I am especially interested in a close up of the eye and the temple area in the light.

For what it is worth, I like it........a lot!

Welcome to the Forum, Amanda!

I think this is an exceptionally beautiful and sensititve painting and I am really excited to see this kind of finish and depth on a painting done from life on the Forum. In addition to posting closeups, can you also tell us what colors you used, any medium, and any other information about your working procedures?

I love this. The lighting is so dramatic and the shadows just perfect.

Wonderful Amanda, this has such a nice old world/Renaissance feel to it.

Thanks for the positive response.....I will try to work out how to post a close up. I have to go into photoshop and experiment a little! So might take a little while.

Thanks so much for your extremely warm and positive criticism. I am trying to post a close up and hope to do it by this evening (I live in Sweden and only have a few hours of daylight, so must rush off and paint now!)

Regards

Amanda

Portrait of Brian
 

I am not sure if I am doing this right but I was asked to post a close up of the eye. Hope the image comes out okay. In response to another question, the medium I use is cold pressed linseed oil mixed with a touch of damar varnish. I occasionally use sun thickened oil but only in small areas which require more modelling, for example around the eye. Generally I try to keep the darks thinner and oilier and the light areas thicker.

The effect I manage to create is the result of many layers of relatively thin paint. I would love to work alla prima but somehow it never works for me.

Hope this is of some interest.

Amanda

Amanda, this is a beautiful classical portrait. The rendering is so sensitive and warm! I'll be interested in hearing what paints you used and in seeing more of your work. Was this a commission or for yourself, and do you have a larger body of paintings we can see?

Thanks for your response! I use a variety of different kinds of oil paints ranging from Windsor and Newton, Sennelier, Rembrandt, Mussini. An essential part of my palette is Lead White and as it is getting more and more difficult to buy, I tend to use whatever brand is available at the time. I used to grind my own paints but haven't for years because of various factors. I still think that is the best option, but it is not always practical.

This was a painting I did for myself. I usually work on commission and what happens is that I never have a painting available for showing around. I thought this one could be one I enter into competitions or open exhibitions. I can post more paintings for you to see but not sure where to post them. I also have a web site if you want to look at it although it is not very comprehensive at the moment. The address is under my members details.

Regards

Amanda