What I remembered About Painting Portraits: Wonderful Workshop at Writers' and Artists' Holiday

Self-portrait in pastels by artist Angella also known as writer Angela Lansbury. Copyright Feb 18 2019.

The Winter Writers' & Artists' Workshop Weekend inspired me to create a self-portrait in pastels, coloured chalks. When you cannot find a subject willing to sit, you can paint yourself.

What I like most is drawing people. I like to capture a distinctive profile, the shape of a nose, the teeth, the hairstyle, the colour of their complexion, even their ears. I like talk to them, to please them and flatter them.

FLATTERING THE SUBJECT
Flattering is hardest. I recall a caricaturist saying that if you don't flatter the sitter they won't buy and won't come back and won't recommend you. This year, for the first time I asked my first sitter to face to his right, face me, and turn to his left. I was drawing him during the morning tea break and he had to rush back to his class. So I had no time to do three teeny sketches and see which one was best. Merely to save time, I took three photos.

I remember asking an artist, "How do you flatter somebody?" For character, you emphasize wrinkles.

I drew one man, emphasizing his wrinkles. He complained, "It doesn't look like me." He stared at it again and conceded, "It looks just like my father."

WRINKLES
Draw wrinkles with a heavy black line and you get more character. The sitter might not like it, but everybody else will like it, especially if they don't know the sitter.

To flatter somebody, make them look younger, cut out the wrinkles. (I have edited photos by using soft focus. Once I had a close-up of myself and the president of a club who put the photos on a Facebook page. I thought, she won't put up that photo of me if she does not look good. The photo flattered me -after I de-wrinkled it with soft focus, and cut out a couple of nasty lines, wisps of hair and distracting wrinkles on collars. Using the same technique, it also flattered her.

However, I sent both myself enhanced her enhanced, and myself enhanced and her not enhanced, explained what I had done, and let her choose. To my surprise, she preferred the one showing herself natural.

A poor person, or one who has never been drawn before, might be flattered just to be painted.

LAUTREC
French Impressionist painter Toulouse Lautrec painted prostitutes and low life at bars he inhabited. Poor people will sit for free. They are unemployed and have time and sometimes no families demanding attention. They are grateful for a portrait they could not afford, their moment of immortality.

GIRL WEARING BLUE
I was once embarrassed by an ugly drawing of a rather plain girl I drew at a party. My main reason for drawing her with water colour pencils was that she wore a striking blue dress. Even if you drew had a blank face, the blue dress was easy to draw and easily recognizable, her trademark, landmark dress.

I was scared to show her the picture. However, she was delighted with it.

I asked, "How does it compare with other portraits you have had?"

She replied, "I have never had a portrait before."

She wanted me to give it to her. I refused. As usual, I said, "I keep the original, for my collection of portraits. But you are welcome to take a photo of it and use it for your website or business cards or Facebook page."

I had earlier admired her blue necklace. She said, "The necklaces are cheap. You can buy them in Orchard Road."

I replied, I can't, because I am flying (from Singapore) to London tomorrow morning.
I offered,"Can you sell me yours and buy yourself another one?"

A thought struck her and me the same time. She said, "If I give you the necklace, will you give me the portrait?"

"Done!" I  said. I quickly handed it to her, before she could change her mind.

I like to find out the sitter's work or hobby to add to the picture. You will notice that caricaturists who sketch and paint at events usually take ten minutes for the drawing and ten minutes for the colouring. Shops offering caricatures charge one price for head only, more for colouring, more for full body(same size paper but smaller body added shrunken in the lower third of the paper. You could have somebody driving a certain make of car, or reading a book, writing a book, holding a tennis raquet, with a dog or baby carriage.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, artist, caricaturist. I have several more posts on art, Writers' Holiday, Fishguard and Wales. Please share links to your favourite posts.