Even before I touched my first tube of paint, I always wondered how the old masters created their stunning portraits. I was also a little bit critical sometimes, because I felt a lot of the portraits had the same kind of face shapes and eyes. But I have learned a lot since…
A lot of people were affected by the effects of inbreeding in old times, especially in high society. So no wonder they all started to look alike. Another possible explanation: many painters started out with the same basic art education, where they learned to draw facial features in a certain way, which resulted in not noticing individual deviations from those principles. These are my thoughts… Think of it what you will!
When I got the chance to experience the old masters’ process in a course with the American Drawing Academy in New York, I jumped on it. But I did it my way as well: I decided not to use the instruction reference, and I also did not work in oils. So my main motive was to use acrylics to mimic the old masters’ method with a reference that was very dear to me: my senior mom.
What did I learn?
First of all, the importance on working on the best possible first sketch and base drawing. There are several ways of doing this. There is a method of mapping out a face and then working out the exceptions in the reference’s face. Once that is done, the drawing that underlies the painting is created. Because I know my mother’s face so well, and because I come from a creative background of drawing and sketching, I was able to produce a good likeness in that basic drawing. See both of these below:
Then the outline of this base drawing was to be transferred to the canvas. In the old days, this was often done by drawing charcoal lines over the most important outlines of the face on the back of the drawing, creating a mirror image. Then pressing that onto the canvas. Workable fixation is then added, so that the outlines do not disappear as paint is applied. When painters worked on mounted linen, it was also possible to use a strong light source behind the sketch, to clearly see the outlines as the sketch was pressed against the linen. Quite a feat considering the poor lighting sources available in yonder years!
The next stage was re-creating the base sketch on the final surface in grayscales, using the rough outine. Light areas were painted with white, strong lines with black paint and then the rest of the details in shades of gray. This is a very important stage of the process. It offers the opportunity to correct small errors in the base sketch so that the portrait becomes even better. See below my grayscale version of mom’s portrait:
Only when this grayscale rendering of the face is perfect, in asfar as there is such a thing, will the colour be applied in thin layer after layer. Even during colour application small errors can still be corrected, which also means new errors can be made. But basically the final results really depend on this rendering of the face. Colour application takes a lot less time with this approach. Each layer will enforce and react with the one lying underneath. And thus the face slowly comes to life, resulting in the final image as shown in the top of this page.
In the case of my mom’s portrait, my choice as the painter I wanted the wrinkles in her face to be quite pronounced, because that is how she really looked at the time. There is a sternness to certain parts of the project that represent her perfectly.
Looking at the second portrait, also shown in the top of this page, I chose the same process, but with a different outcome. This is a portrait of author Edith Eger. A senior lady who wrote books about her experiences in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany. I had the privilege of meeting her in person, though not in the flesh, but through Zoom. When she was talking to me, it was as if she was posing and I decided to try and make a portrait of her during these Zoom sessions. In this portrait, she is about 15 years older than my mom in hers. For that reason I wanted to render the signs of aging in a much softer way in this portrait, and concentrate more on the many gradual colour transitions in her face. As the person ages, often the lines in their face develop a bit of sagging, which results in more softness. I also wanted to make sure to add some colour reflection of her scarf on her left jaw. I achieved a certain translucency that naturally happens when working with multiple layers.
Portraits can be done in all sorts of ways but I have to say that this is my favourite, despite the fact that it takes a much longer time than working al primo: starting the painting without multiple sketches in the base layers.
I hope you enjoy the results. Edith Eger’s portrait is for sale but I will keep my mom’s for myself. But as always: whichever piece is not for sale, can be recreated on canvas in a high quality art print, at request.
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