38 artistDecember 2019 http://www.painters-online.co.uk
ASPECTS OF PORTRAITURE 2ND 0F 4
t Portrait of Clemency Stimig, oil on linen,
25¼ 3 19¾in (64 3 50cm).
This portrait was a surprise birthday present- the lady in question had absolutely no idea
her portrait was being painted and she was
absolutely thrilled
if you ask your sitter to lick their lips.
Keep the corners of the mouth soft.
The outer edges of the lips lead to, and
sit in, a small area of darker tone where
there is a little dip or indentation,
which you can see on both the light
and shadow side of the mouth. You
can always go back to re-accent and
establish your darks, such as the
corners of the inside of the mouth
cavity to the teeth.Teeth
A set of full teeth can be quite tricky
to do and full smiles, showing every
tooth, are not often seen in portrait
painting. Historically most portraits
were done from life and it is rather
a hard task to demand your sitter to
continue to smile in the most natural
way for several hours at a time, not to
mention several sittings. Today we have
modern technology and can work from
photographs. One danger, however, is
that painting someone smiling broadly
in a portrait can take on a snap-shot-
like quality so I think you have to be a
little careful.Kathy Barker
studied ine art painting at Wimbledon
School of Art and portraiture at Charles
Cecil Studio, Florence. Kathy tutored for
several years at West Dean College and
currently teaches at the Roehampton
Club, London, and holds a weekly
portrait class at her studio in Fulham.
She has exhibited with the Royal Society
of Portrait Painters and exhibits annually
with the Society of Women Artists, of
which she is an associate member.
http://www.kathybarker.co.uk Having said that, sometimes a
beaming smile is what a client desires,
especially when the subjects are
children, in which case it is easier, if not
necessary, to work from photographic
references.
In a full smile, contrary to what you
might think, the corners of the mouth
usually turn down as the lips follow
the maxilla bone of the skull. Note
that teeth are rarely white in colour,
except for the occasional highlight.Just as if you were painting a white cup
and saucer, for instance, when studied,
there is very little pure white except
for those little glinting highlights. A tip
is to keep edges of teeth soft and with
very soft demarcations of individual
teeth, otherwise the viewer’s eye is
drawn straight to the teeth rather than
the whole image, especially if the light
and dark values are very contrasting
with lots of hard edges, as shown in the
portrait (above). TANext month: the nose