September 4, 2022
What started early July 2022, is now done: the Drawing America summer course with Jennifer Gennari has been completed. And here it is, the result of many, many hours of painstakingly following the method of the old masters. Normally done in oil, but I have never shied away from a challenge, so this portrait was done with acrylic paint.
I have painted using the classical approach before, but never under the guidance of a well-known painter like Jennifer Gennari. I love her portraits of animals so much! It seemed like there would be a lot to learn, especially about the choices she makes and the colours she tends to use and when to use them.
I originally started out as a drawer, not a painter. I never thought I would transition to colour painting, but since I was introduced to acrylics in 2016, I have been on a wonderful voyage of discovery.
I used to think that this was how great painters worked:
Open the pallet, grab a canvas, and start throwing paint around, resulting in fabulous works of art, from imagination or based on a reference picture of live model. There might be some who can do that but… I now know that most paintings are born with plenty of labour pains, at the end of sometimes months of sketching and trial and error. It requires some serious commitment; and willingness to fail. And fail we will, as artists, I can confirm that, usually right before the break-though moment when we see, with great relief, that it is all coming together after all… It is part of the creative process.
The phenomenon of grisalle/underpainting (see below) in this course was not new to me. In fact, I studied with another painter in 2018 (Suzan Brooker in Seattle), to find out what it was all about; I used underpaintings with watercolour and acrylic alike. I remember, with a smile on my face, how frustrated Suzan, my first ever art teacher, was with my total lack of knowledge about anything to do with brush and colour. Let alone about other traditional painting techniques. But these past weeks I have become aware that I no longer think about how to get the brush to do what I want. It now often feels like an extension of my fingers. I guess daily practice does pay off! Or, to cite my own sister, when she was referencing my current age: “If you continue painting like this, you will soon be an old master yourself!” LOL!
Below, I will try to explain how this virtual Zoom course worked, with only 1 session of direct, albeit online, interaction with the teacher. I would have gladly booked an in-person summer course, but alas, with Covid still influencing many social activities, I had to make do with the virtual class model: 7 Lectures with 7 video demonstrations, 7 weekly written critiques and 1 live session to critique the final stages of the work.
What is the ‘old masters’ method?
And no, it is not about seniors involved in painting 🙂
Stage 1: the sketch
Like most artists today, the old masters started with a rough sketch and in all probability, they used different methods to get to a good likeness. Very often someone sat for them patiently, lit by oil lamps. There were always many practice sketches of certain components of the subject. Comparative measuring was what how we did it in this summer course. You have probably seen artists measure someone’s features by stretching out their arm towards the model, pencil in hand, and then transfer what they saw to paper. You can do this with a live model, but it also works with one or more reference pictures. Once everything feels right, the main features are then worked out in more detail.
First: rough sketch, second: the final sketch before going to canvas
Stage 2: transfer the sketch to the canvas
The old masters would now turn the paper around, and, against a light source, trace the main lines with charcoal. Then, place the sketch on top of their canvas and trace it once more, to transfer the lines. Give it a quick spray with a charcoal fixative and they were ready to pick up the paint brush. This method had the huge advantage that the initial sketch was re-useable. There are also stories about painters of old that skip this phase and stick the sketch to the back of their canvas, hit it with a strong light source and paint from there. Or, alternatively, do the transfer with the sketch stuck to the back of the canvas.
In modern times we have the luxury of taking a shortcut: we scan or photograph our drawing, use computer software to mirror the image and then trace it to transfer paper via our monitors, provided they are big enough for the canvas size we want to use. Alternatively use carbon copy paper to do the transfer directly to the canvas. Which makes the drawing unusable for the future in most cases, but it is a good alternative.
Stage 3: Grisaille or ‘underpainting’
Have you ever wondered how portraits in old paintings get that special ivory type of luminosity? Underpainting or grisaille is the explanation.
A grisaille is a technique used to complete the full painting of the portrait in gray tones. Using just black and white all the nuances of the portrait are worked out, making sure that everything is in place. All details are studied and included and the result is a black and white portrait of the subject.
Below: the progress from sketch to grisaille – a process that took almost 3 weeks with repeated nitpicking all of the grayscale values and correct forms…
Stage 4: Colour!
Finally! Colour! Bring out the pallet and moisten the brushes. It is time to mix up some colours and get into the final stage of the project. You might be surprised to hear that this stage consists of many, many, MANY substages, because barely any colour goes on with one move of a brush. On the contrary. Colours are applied thinly, again and again, oiled down or, in my case, diluted with glazing medium. All the while nitpicking every singe detail over and over. No colour stands on its own. It always shines or dies because of the shades of colour that surround it. Both oils and acrylics allow for corrections even in the later stages of the portrait. But of course, too many will muddy the waters and this means losing that very special luminosity.
Below: colour glazing my way to the last version before the final finish…
Stage 5: the reveal
The reveal is a nerve-wrecking moment for any painter, whether you are confident of your work or not. And with a portrait this is even more true. Why is that? To paraphrase Jennifer Ginnari:
“When we paint a landscape, something abstract or even a portrait of an animal, our brains are not overly critical. We simply recognise the main form and that is that. But something weird happens when we see a painted human portrait. We ALL have the natural ability to see if something is not right in the basic features. A lot of things can go wrong. And we will always notice it. One eye too far or close from the other. A mouth that is placed a hair to low or too wide or too narrow. A head that does not have the right proportions. You do not have to be an art critic to notice it. And when we paint someone we know, or someone our clients know when we do a commission: it is instantly apparent when the portrait hits the bulls-eye or not.”
In this course, Jennifer also quoted the English painter John Singer Sargent (1856 – 1925):
“A portrait is a painting with something wrong with the mouth. …”
So true! The mouth has the ability to communicate a vast array of emotions and expressions, all due to the many muscles and nerves that control its movements. It made us all spend a lot more time on that part of the face, I think, almost afraid to become the affirmation of that quote
This time I had the opportunity to film that very special moment of ‘the reveal’, because I was in a Zoom meeting with my sister and mother, in the Netherlands. You may not speak Dutch and understand, but I think you will see and hear the surprise and the joy. My mom instantly called out: “That is ME!!” and then she complained about her ‘white hair’… 🙂 My mom is as fit as a fiddle and you would not believe it if she told you she has entered her 87th year recently. But the hair, despite her colouring it regularly, is a bit of a give-away, whether she likes it or not. You can run, but you cannot hide, lol! I am so happy having this joyous reveal on camera…
The references I used for the painting, by the way, date back to her 83rd year. But she has not changed much since then and I hope that it stays like this in the next decennium or so.