Posthumous portrait
 

I'm posting this, just completed, not because it's at all innovative--I didn't attempt to bring in another pose or dress up the background--but I wanted to share a technique I used to work the color.

I've been dissatisfied in the past with working from black and white reference. With an absence of color information, the result had always looked like a sepia photograph because I made up the skin color mentally. So this time, I tinted the black and white photo with sepia to warm it up a little, and I posed my wife Linda in similar lighting and photographed her in color. With both references side-by-side on the monitor, I could draw and read value from the original subject reference, and use the photo of Linda for color. The result was more nuanced and realistic skin tones in the painting.

This piece was painted for a local college to replace one that was produced in the '40's and went missing some time later. It's the wife of a former president of the school--their "First Lady."

Tom, it worked beautifully! The color is very subtle, and believable. She is exquisitely rendered. This is a painting I could look at for a long time - and wish I could see in person.

You know Bougeureau - as I understand it - in order to be able to paint those little cherubs, would often go to the Louvre and do some drawing studies of statues of small children to get the poses, and then return to his studio and have some of these little rugrats on hand - who'd be running all over the place - just to get the color notes he needed. So there was often a good bit of inventing going on - with stunning results of course.

Congrats on this successful portrait!

David

Tom,

What a great idea! This paintings looks so regal and solid and is absolutely lovely. Thank you for not just posting a stunning painting, but for also sharing some insight into your creative process!

Tom, this is superb! I'll bet the college will hire you to paint all their portraits for the rest of your life. She's very believable, as everyone has already said. I love that background color, too--very rich.

Tom,

In French, I would say "Chapeau bas !".
This is the first posthumous portrait made from a W/B picture that I look at with so much admiration.
The drawing is perfect, the colors in the background beautiful, and the harmony with the colors of the head gorgeous.
Like David I wish I could see it in person too.

I am deeply impressed and will definitely try your technique if I ever have to work with a W/B reference picture (which situation I try to avoid actually, as the reference pictures are generally not that good).

Thank you very much for sharing your experience.

Sincerely,
Karine

Wow! That's great!

Lovely colors.

Thanks, everyone....

Karine, "merci et les meilleurs souvenirs!"

Dear Tom,

A resourceful approach and a successful outcome!

Tom, you have done such a wonderful job here. Anybody who has ever tried painting a posthumous portrait with difficult photo resources knows how tough it is to do. I really admire your work on this one and of course I will think about stealing your ideas on one of the projects on my backburner. :)

Seriously - thank you again for all the information and generosity on this Forum, I know I am not the only one who always learns so much from you.

Thanks, Linda.

Everyone here contributes on a high level. The standard for all of our work has risen tremendously since I came back to painting about twelve years ago. This forum is an integral part of that advancement, to my mind. We all teach and learn from each other.

Best--TE