This month has flown by due to a short illness, a holiday cancellation, and a number of distractions, all of which have delayed progress on any new paintings. Fortunately I can put all these events behind me and start another chapter in my artistic activities, happy in the knowledge that two friends have just acquired a couple of my paintings, the latest being this one of a Kestrel and oak tree on East Wickham Open Space:-
Starting afresh with my painting I’ve decided to return to portraiture again, and having watched a new Italian drama series, Non Udiccere (Thou Shalt not Kill) starring Miriam Leone, who has very striking features, I’m pressing on to paint her using numerous photos as reference sources . As she is a former beauty queen, model and actress there are plenty of them! Here is one:-
I’ve done much preparation to familiarise myself with her facial features and, as often happens, teeth can be a problem so I’ve also made a painted sketch eliminating them and changed the hair colour and style:-
I also made a drawing from other photos to get used to her face more and have opted for the final portrait to show a closed mouth but have spent a large amount of time dithering over the composition including background, colours, and dress she should wear. She was born in Catania in Sicily so I may choose this city and Mount Etna to appear somewhere as I have done in several other figurative works. This is where I am at the moment , still spending a great deal of time on this project!
By the time I finish I hope to improve the likeness with heavier eyebrows, piercing eyes and numerous other changes mainly to both eyes to do justice to this rather unusual and unique face.