Hey Joe

I was in the mood for a figure painting with sensible colours today. I’d already picked out a photo of a male model called Joe, one that had lots of highlighted areas that I could leave white. It was only during my morning walk that I decided to go with oil pastels as my medium: the Artgraf blocks ran them close.

To help me get started, I turned my source photo into a three value map using the Notanizer app and put down the shapes in pencil. Then I dabbed in lots of spots of colour. I started with a light fleshy colour in the mid tones and a darker fleshy colour in the shadows. After that, I added lots more colours:

• more fleshy colours and browns in both areas
• some interesting yellows, reds, blues and greens. The yellow was only added to the mid tones. The others were added everywhere. Apart from the yellow (chosen for its warmth), all these extra impressionistic colours were transparent ones as I thought these might better allow the conventional flesh colours to continue to show.
• some whites and pale fleshy tones in the midtones and on the borders between midtones and highlighted flesh areas

Once I thought I had enough pigment on the paper, I moved on to blending. I started on any edges of the body and on the curve of the nearest bum cheek, creating hard edges using a colour shaper. Then I smoothed out everything else with a finger in some kitchen paper. I created soft edges between midtones and flesh highlights by dragging colourings the highlights. And after a little bit of fiddling where I thought areas were too dark or too light or edges were too hard or too soft, that was me done.

And I’m very happy with this one. After using impressionistic colours in my figures for years, I seem to be moving towards something more realistic and representational. Although there are still interesting colours in there if you look close enough. With half the head highlighted, I’ve not for once need up with someone whose neck looks too thick. And all those smudges around the edges impart a certain energy to the composition. I’m taking the golden opportunity here to name this one after a Jimi Hendrix track. Joe’s up for sale, with the price to be found here.