One of several small (7x5in) oil portraits I’ve been working on, painted mainly in one sitting from photo references. This one was painted in a couple of sittings. Portrait, oil on panel, 5x7in, Thalia, April 2024 So was this one, I think. Portrait, oil on panel, 5x7in, Thalia, April 2024 This also took more than one sitting to finish. Portrait, oil on panel, 5x7in, Thalia, June 2024 I remember doing this one in one go....
This morning I got up early and went out for a walk and a sketch. I was trying out my new Uni Kuru Toga Advance 0.5mm automatic pencil with a 4B lead. The pencil was very comfortable to draw with, probably more so than my last Pentel one, which finally gave up the ghost after many years the other day. I’m trying to use up half-started sketchpads, and this was done in my Moleskine soft-cover landscape sketchbook....
I documented the stages of a recent painting I made from a photo reference. I started with a monochrome underpainting in raw umber. The second stage of underpainting, Thalia 2023 The first stage of underpainting, Thalia 2023
On a visit to the National Gallery a couple of months ago, I picked up a book on Holbein from the shop. I can’t remember the name of it and can’t find it online – it’s currently packed ready for our house move. Anyway, I was struck by Holbein’s portrait of his wife Elsbeth (born Binzenstock) in the painting ‘The artist’s family’ from c.1528. She just looks so much like a real person and also so expressive, sad even....