I love painting ethnic skin. There is such a variety of colour shades that one can observe and that makes it much more interesting that traditional ‘white skin’. It is funny how, when this portrait was created, the reference picture piqued my interest, but was not at all copied. The reference was not my own photograph, but the resulting portrait certainly is. And that is often how it works with references.
There are purist people out there who consider a painting based on somebody else’s reference as a bit of a sin. As if the painting was not original to the painter. I beg to differ. Every painting is an original, no matter what the reference is. Sometimes it comes out as something that looks remarkably like the reference, but more often than not, we as artists take creative liberties and just use the reference for inspiration.
So it went with this portrait.
The reference picture, of which you will find a full study in portfolio #0 on the dining room table, was made by Bryan Peterson, a photographer I have worked with when I lived in the United States. It was a wonderful shot. But I was mostly inspired by the face of the person. And that is what developed into the ethnic portrait on my wall during the Studio Tour. There is a first study of the portrait in that same portfolio as well. I ultimately chose to make this a fairly dark work, as it allowed me to make the eyes pop in a stronger way. I love the pride and independence that is so evident in this wonderful face. It is different from the face in the reference, and as such represents an original ‘made by Nicky’, in my humble opinion.
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