This week's model on Portrait Artist Of The Week was Will Young. Look, I'll keep…
Neil Young
Dear oh dear. After the successes of Duane and Big Sam, I felt confident enough to have a go at this style of drawing on watercolour paper and everything went to pot. My first effort was a portrait of Neil Young. While I managed to get a good scowl on the face and the right shaped torso, I had problems with his right hand, as you can see from the restatements. This one looks better cropped down to a square, losing the bottom.
I then had a go at painting. Most of the colour here is cerulean blue, Winsor red and either raw sienna or yellow ochre (I think I used both) although there’s also some ivory black in the hair and background where I was struggling to get a dark enough colour and, with the rain about to come down, rushing things a bit. I wanted to have a hidden edge between Neil’s hair and the background and only partially succeeded. The salty patterns in the background were a last desperate attempt to get something from the painting but they don’t really add much.
The best bits about this one are the shadows on the T-shirt and the scowl on the face but they’re not enough to save this one. It’s too monotone and too cartoony. A bit Felix Schweinbergery but nowhere near as good as his work. Don’t expect to see this one going up for sale.
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