My latest portrait is of my father in law, Ken. I took the source photograph of him at Henry Moore’s Studio and gardens, near Much Hadham in Hertfordshire.
Ken is situated inside one of his iconic and world famous sculptures, leaning forward on the inside. Ken is wearing his favourite Che Guevara olive Army style jacket, which compliments the metallic brown hues and harmonises with his grey beard and hair. In the top right is a tree in the distance, bringing a 3 colour layer to the background, which helps give depth and the flash of green warmth to the brown tones.
As soon as I took the picture, I knew it would make a good painting. Aside from the composition being pleasing – with the brown graduation of metallic Bronze surfaces. I felt that Ken’s gaze expressed a feeling of honesty and contentment. This was only 1 week before a life improving heart operation, so thematically I wanted to paint a portrait which captured that moment in time as a memory.
At one stage I way experimenting with the idea of turning the bronze red in colour, as I felt the curved surfaces and lines were like the inside of a heart’s atriums and ventricles. After doing a few test studies and it looked overly literal – so I kept it true to real life and from the photograph.
Technically – I was happiest with the nose the most. Always such a tricky off centre angle and his hair on top I kept loose mark making to keep the focus on his gently squinting eyes.
