PORTRAIT AS COLOR AND SHAPE
demo
By Catherine Kehoe
1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8
9
11
10
12
The development of SP
with white shirt might be
described as a type of
construction—one color
or shape being balanced
against another. In the
earlier stages (images
3–6), cooler yellow-green
shapes representing light
on the forehead interact
with warmer, darker shapes
representing shadow at the
chin and cheeks. By image
6, however, linear progress
on the painting has stopped;
I then scrape down and
reconstruct the painting.
The fi nal stages of the paint-
ing (images 8–12) become
a three-way conversation
between the red and orange
light areas at the top of the
face opposed to the cool
neutrals around the chin and
above the lips. Both areas
use the warm white of the
shirt as a foil. In the fi nal
state of the painting, beau-
tiful slab-shaped notes of
color defi ne the facets of the
subject’s forehead, cheeks
or ears. Other pieces of color
describe bits of light on the
nose, above the lip or on the
chin. The strong, dark form
of the glasses dominates
the face.
ABOVE: SP with
white shirt (oil on
linen mounted on
panel, 6x6)DECEMBER 2016 41
36_tam1216Kehoe.indd 41 9/22/16 8:33 AM