Starting with the background

Before I started working on canvas at my Tuesday night classes,
I used to drive to class wondering what colour of ground to
use. I must have tried every colour in my palette, and ultimately
concluded that for me, in most cases, a warm ground was better
than a cold one -- so I favour rust, orange, peach, yellow and red
as backgrounds, over blue, purple, or green.

Painting sketch
acrylic on watercolour paper
20" x 26"

The painting sketch I'm showing you tonight is done on watercolour
paper in acrylic, and at the time I was trying out a purple ground.
I prefer our portrait night when the model is dressed, to the
figure study night when the model is naked, not because I'm a prude,
but because I like to paint clothing. I like how clothes make a
statement about the model -- and that's just me. I can appreciate
all kinds of work, but I guess I like painting people in their clothing,
because I'm interested in their personalities. Clothing may not make
the man, or woman, but it definitely expresses who they are. As a
portrait painter, I know that clients are very particular about both
what they wear, and the accessories that go with their dresses or
suits. Women clients often bring favorite meaningful jewelry, and
men who think they never think about clothes insist on wearing
special shirts, and ties. Mark Twain said, "clothes make the man.
Naked people have little or no influence on society." I think
that idea could easily be challenged.

That said I like the figure drawing in this image, and I especially like
the colours I was working with.

Have a painting-everything-in-sight day.

Highly susceptible to humour

My first serious portrait when I switched to acrylics from
watercolour was a painting of Sandra Martin, a superb
writer and columnist with the Globe and Mail, one of
Canada's most respected newspapers. The painting took
months to finish, and one of the reasons was that
Sandra is so funny. I enjoyed talking to her so much,
that I had trouble disciplining myself to pay attention
and concentrate on her features. Plus she had to
be quiet so that I could paint her, and I loved
talking to her. The portrait wasn't a commission,
so we weren't confined to a deadline.

Sandra Martin
24" x 36"
acrylic on canvas
sold

When I hunted through our photo files last night to
find an image of the result, I was happy because it captures
a real impression of Sandra. She is extremely
intelligent, witty, urban, stylish and beautiful.
Plus the painting is very painterly -- colour
and brushwork are almost as important as
the likeness. I'm not aiming for a reproduction
of a photograph in my work, even if the
only resource for a painting is photographic.

At the time when I painted her in 2003/04 she
had brilliant blue hair, and wore a gorgeous
blue shawl spotted with gold for our sittings.
There's an indefinable regal quality to
Sandra's bearing, and she has elegant hands.
Not many people can pull off blue hair with
equanimity -- but Sandra did.

We started the sittings before Christmas, and
finished the last details just before a spring
show. It will always be one of my favorite works.

Have a deeply gratifying day.

Charming children

Celine before the dance
36" x 24"
acrylic on canvas
sold

This painting of Céline is another example of a
painting that whipped along. At 12 Céline was an
accomplished artist herself. She was a sweet,
utterly confident little girl, and knew that we
were rushing to deadline. It had taken me
three months to paint her brother, and we
had at the most one month to finish her portrait
-- which meant with her busy schedule, after
school classes, her own drawing and painting,
homework, and family obligations -- I'd be lucky to
see her for six sessions, when I normally
need between 10 and 12, two hour sessions.

Her mother and Céline chose the dress
before we started, her brother's finished
portrait established the background, so we began.
On our second session she brought a
thick sketchbook of drawings she was
going to hand in for art. She was
so talented I was afraid she'd be
hard to please.

As it turned out she loved the painting.
We were working to the deadline of a show
opening. The idea was to surprise her father
on his birthday with these two portraits.
The paintings were his birthday gift
from his wife. I didn't meet the Dad
until the opening, although his
children had been coming to see me
all winter. All through the process --
which was arduous, his mother kept the secret
of this gift.

Rémi before the dance
36" x 24"
acrylic on canvas
sold

Rémi broke his leg in the
middle of our time together, but gamely
put the broken leg over the chair arm as
we had posed him that way originally.

When the Dad walked up the stairs into
the gallery and saw his children's
portraits on the wall he was clearly
overwhelmed. His wife beamed at him,
and it was one of the happiest moments in
my career. As their grandparents looked on
the children and their parents hugged laughing.

Have a making-people-happy day.

Working with animals

Okay I admit it having a cast on can make me
grumpy from time to time -- especially when the doctor
decides I need a new "tighter" cast. I prayed for the
"artistic" cast person who knew how to make a cast
comfortable to build the new one, but she was at lunch
while the deed was being done.

The fair Fiona and Me with
one of Fiona's toy mice

What's funny is that my cat insists on good behaviour.
When Steven and I had a heated debate on the merits of
various cast technicians after a long day waiting in the hospital,
Fiona -- the superhuman Siamese ran from one to the
other of us, swatting at our faces, and yowling trying to
get us to stop. When I first brought her home I didn't know
I'd adopted the Miss Manners of the feline world.

Graeme and Coco
acrylic on canvas
24" x 36"
Sold

This brings me to the subject of tonight's blog -- painting
animals. I love animals -- cats and dogs and birds, especially.
I don't see myself as an animal portrait painter, but
many people love their animals and want them
in the picture. I'm working on such a painting right
now, but it's still under wraps. The ideal set up of
course would be to have the animals come with the
client and pose them in the studio.

The painting I'm including tonight of Graeme Northcote,
required some extra planning. Coco was a three month
old puppy when we started work, and four or five months
old when we finished. She agreed to a very wriggly five
minute sitting once, and I worked from photos. But
people sit differently when they're holding an
animal -- so we used a very large stuffed toy rabbit
as a substitute.

Then Coco came back for another fast photo session
when the picture was almost finished and I had
to paint her again, she had grown so much, and her
facial expression had changed.

Suzanne and David like my painterly style. That
fact alone made the painting a delight to work
on.

Graeme was 12 at the time, and we had great
talks over cookies during the breaks.

Have a loving-your-pets day.