For this painting, I chose my father as the subject, as I believed that his ruddy and older complexion would be a nice contrast to my self portrait. Firstly, I created several line compositions, as I was already confident of which pose I wanted to create, where my father would be facing a window, therefore creating instant contrast in the tone of each side of the face, but before rushing into the portrait I produced both a conte sketch and an ink study to be certain of where the light fell on my father’s face.
Shown below is the portrait of my father, but i have not yet finished it, as i am not sure what to pit in the background, whether it be a simple wash of colour or whether it shall include some interior. However, after painting my father, i asked him and other members of our family whether there was a likeness. The response was that there definitely was a likeness, but as per usual, I made him look sad and depressed, and i think it’s possibly due to the fact that i always seem to exaggerate people’s faces and the features that mature them against a younger subject.
After receiving my written report from my tutor, she recommended I took a second look at the neck of the portrait which did not look anatomically correct as the curve below the ear was not realistic, and so to amend this I simply covered this up with the correct shade of acrylic, which made the neck appear much better and accurate.
SOPHIE FAWCETT'S OCA LEARNING LOG 