Focus on creating interest and use of space. Developing and pursuing a personal view. Opportunities for expression.
Painting with Paul Cézanne
“We live in a rainbow of chaos” Paul Cézanne
Cézanne was a major force paralleling mainstream Impressionism. Always somewhat apart, he innovated and brought fresh ways of seeing to us all: both Matisse and Picasso are said to have remarked that Cézanne “is the father of us all.”. Cézanne sought to sense something fundamental about all subjects and through his investigations of still life, figures and landscapes, gave life to modernism and changed the world of art forever. I still scratch my head somewhat when I look at a Cézanne. Normally there are some other significant painters with something of the same style. But not Cézanne, he just saw things differently and now, so do we.
Then there is his description of his painting process…a description that rings as true to my heart as any :
“If I reach too high or too low, everything is a mess. There must not be a single loose strand, a single gap through which the tension, the light, the truth can escape. I have all parts of my canvas under control simultaneously. If things are tending to diverge, I use my instincts and my beliefs to bring them back together again….I take the tones of colour I see to my right and my left, here, there everywhere and I fix these gradations. I bring them together…. They form lines, and become objects, rocks, trees, without my thinking about it. They acquire volume, they have an effect. When these masses and weights on my canvas correspond to the planes, and spots which I see in my mind and which we see with our eyes, then the canvas closes it’s fingers.”
This lesson is focused on making the portrait your own through the choices you make in composition and colour. In some ways, portraits are a most challenging form of expression. Most people expect a likeness and then, only looking at the art as a tangential consequence. Throughout this lesson, I encourage you to continually try new approaches.
Composition
Portraits over the ages have been expressed with wildly differing compositions, from the traditional “head and shoulders” through to full figures, scenes and to radical oblique and cropped views. This of course is a matter of artistic choice and I encourage you to experiment!
Many of my portraits are relatively conventional in composition and expressionism is channeled toward paint application and colour. In this vein a conventional portrait might have these characteristics:
- Conventionally, the sitter is looking into the picture space with the eyes proportionally more to the edge. Eyes are typically very much in the upper half of the picture space.
- Limit space around the head so that it does not appear lost in the canvas. I’m a bit allergic to leaving much space above the head and invariably feel the portrait is “pushed down”.
- Some asymmetry in the pose, particularly looking at tilt of the head and shoulder position, is important.
- Three-quarter views are probably the most effective for traditional compositions. When I choose a straight on pose, I will invariably build in some asymmetry.
All of these ideas are there to be challenged – perhaps a small head at the bottom of the paper, centered and viewed straight on might well work – that’s art!
Colour
Opportunities abound with background colour and motif. With portraits, perhaps more than any other subject, the background can have tremendous effect. It impacts the colour and value balance of course, and this is motivation enough, however I think that there’s more to it than that. The colour affects the overall feel and impression of the person, creates an ambiance for the viewer and projects something that I’d be challenged to describe. Some people talk about colour auras, and certainly colour is deeply seated in our psyche. That said, the choice perhaps emanates as much from the painter as the subject.
Here are a few pointers to keep in mind:
- Any colour can work…cool will distance itself from the actual portrait….. warm will “push” the portrait forward – literally banging on the back of the head;
- Tonal is safer than chromatic… there’s a lot of colour in skin and a high chroma background can compete;
- Simple is likewise more straightforward. A busy background, unless there’s a message in the motif…will distract the viewer;
- Brushwork should not compete with the subject. That does not mean that it needs to be boring, just thought of as a “frame” for the subject;
- Don’t forget the colour of the clothes too….it all has to fit together!
Again, these ideas are yardsticks to be challenged – perhaps try a high chroma, dramatic abstract design. Go with your intuition: as Chagall once commented: “If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing.”
Exercise
- Review a couple of portraits: yours or by others. Look at how the colour and composition fit together. What impression do you have? Do they resonate? Why? What alternative approach might work as well, or better?
- Starting afresh with a new portrait, decide to make some new decisions and apply a couple of the ideas from this lesson: Unusual composition, different background/colour choice or thematic style!
Care of watercolours
So we come to the end of the course and I thought it useful to include some information on looking after your watercolours. There are of course many good references on the subject.
Flattening
I do press flat when finished. I dampen on the back, place between a few blank sheets of acid-free paper or in a watercolour pad and then sandwich between plates of flat, hard surface (glass, melamine or similar) and compress by weighting with books overnight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-nr9DULRaA
Some watercolourists will gently iron their work: I’ve tried it, but it still scares me.
Tearing rather than cutting
Watercolour paper tears along the weave, with due care, of course. The result is a nice “Deckled” edge which looks great as a feature. The procedure I use is to carefully tear against a good steel ruler pressing hard supported on a flat surface. The following video shows how: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pck66N_O2nc
The following approach should work too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaG6zUVpxJ8
https://www.paintingwithwatercolors.com/how-to-frame-a-watercolor-painting/