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This portrait depicts Skycap Keith who kindly helped Peggy and I when we arrived at Phoenix airport on our way to Imaging USA. Ironically it was because one of our bags missed the flight that I had time to photograph Keith and obtain his permission to use his picture in my Imaging USA keynote presentation as a demonstration sample. I then continued working on the image during the trade show.
From the original photograph (above), see how the painting developed, starting with a loose freehand sketch (immediately below), created in Corel Painter using the brushes Jeremy'sSumiPollockSplash, Jeremy'sMishMashScumble and modern art in a can, going through an early experimental phase, and then becoming more refined and resolved (scroll further down to see the later stages).
Every brush stroke is applied with intention, even when it may look random or wild! Every choice of tone and color relates to how I want the tonal relationships and contrasts to work together in the composition. My underlying goal and intention as I make every mark on the canvas is to powerfully express the personality of my subject.
Note how marks left visible from my original misplacement of the head resulted in a sense of movement in the composition. This is an example of how I turn “mistakes” into positive attributes of the final painting. I never undo or redo my brush strokes as I paint, but keep painting over them. This way every brush strokes adds to the complexity and history of the painting. The result is much more energy and richness in the final artwork compared with trying to get everything perfect. I allow myself the freedom to embrace the chaos, knowing that at any time I can choose to tighten up and resolve the painting and make it as literal and photo-realistic as I wish. This confidence and trust in the process allows me to take risks with my marks, to be free with color and loose with brush strokes.
I incorporated textures and symbols such as Keith’s BB King pin, his Skycap badge and insignia, and the texture of his hat. These visual elements are brought into the painting as repeating paper texture motifs, introduced with the Square Chalk 35 in Corel Painter. I like to resonate and repeat image elements like this that relate to the subject. Scroll further down to see the original "secondary image" from which I captured these elements.
This detail of Keith's right eye (above) shows how I work into the iris, reflecting colors and irregular, rough-edged shapes from the environment, going far beyond the level of detail available in the source photograph.
Here is a detail (above) showing a belnding of one paper texture over another, all drawn from details captured in my secondary photographs of Keith, such as this one below.
The infamous lost baggage receipt which unintentionally led to this painting being created and which symbolizes how a seemingly adverse set-back can be turned into a plus, just like my approach to laying down my brush strokes in a painting...
For those of you interested in learning the techniques and strategies I use in more detail, you'll find my classes very productive and effective, and will also enjoy and find very useful my Painter X Creativity book and my various DVDs (see my Educational Store). Please also check out my new educational online center, a subscription web site called PaintboxJ.com, that will launch on February 24th. I shall be including on PaintboxJ.com a video that shows the behind the scenes of the evolution of this painting, with screen capture movies.
All artwork shown is copyright © Jeremy Sutton
No reproduction or usage of artwork allowed without written permission of the artist.
All World Wide Rights Reserved
http://www.jeremysutton.com
jeremy@jeremysutton.com
415.641.1221