I’ve been practicing portraiture for a good 5 years now. I really enjoy rendering faces for some reason and I love learning different styles from famous artists.
A favourite portrait artist is John Songer Sargent. I love his confident, painterly renderings and use of luminous colours such as apricot contrasted with dark greens and a range of off whites. Such a beautiful palette.
This study was of a young beauty called Elizabeth Winthrop Chandler. Shes particularly challenging as her youth means a lack of shadows so I set out with some trepidation!
I began with a light pencil sketch. Next I made some rough, angular marks with diluted raw umber paint.
Once I had my initial markers on the canvas I began blocking out the background.
Happy with this.
If you’d like an oil portrait of yourself or a loved one just send me a photo. They make great gifts.
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