A return to blogging with a finished Thomas More portrait

My last post was in March 2012. It's time to update my painting adventures in the last seven months.

I'll begin with my copy of Holbein's Thomas More. I finally called it quits on September 3. My idea to lighten his mood by putting a role of Lifesavers in his hands does not go over as well with the peanut gallery as I hoped, so he remains true to his 1527 incarnation. The dark colours have begin to sink in so I'm looking forward to Varnishing Day in summer 2013.

The first two images below were taken on Labour Day on the deck at the cottage.

For this painting, I decided to have a custom handcrafted frame made from a company in Chicago -- Husar Picture Frames (www.husarpictureframe.com). I sent them several photos and measurements and together we choose the perfect frame from their extensive catalog of corner frames and finishes. 

Below is a picture of the painting sitting on our mantel, unframed. 

And here is the painting hung with its new frame. Once it is varnished next summer, it will be truly finished.

A look again at the Holbein master copy

I haven't worked on my Holbein copy since early October but plan to return to it soon. The image below shows its current state. On a visit to New York City in October, I returned to the Frick Collection where the original hangs on a dark wall.  I stared for a long time trying to see what the skin colour and values in the hands are supposed to be, but in the dim light it was hard to see for certain. Inside the gift shop, I was struck by how bad most of their prints were. I purchased a large poster that is about 95% to scale but like the many online versions of Thomas More I've seen, the printed colours are way off. What I did learn from studying it is that I still need to sculpt the chin and push it to the left while giving the underside of the nose a greater angle.  In short: I have to make him uglier.

Update on Holbein's Thomas More copy

"What I did on my summer vacation"  Never enough but in a few short words I started repainting the face, fur, gold chain and drapes...

I started on the drapes two days ago, working from right to left and stopping just above the cap. What I'm trying to do is in this pass is to get a better sense of the shape of folds on the cloth moving in and out of the light... At the same time, I'm taking out some of the chroma in the original sap green, dulling it down with gray.  Strangely, in the original, the "greenness" also varies considerably from one side to the other, as if the artist didn't quite get a consistent mix. Plus it looks as the he either used very thin washes of green (to save money?) or that the green was stripped away after multiple cleanings. In photos of Holbein's painting, I can see right through the green down to the gesso layer plastered on top of the oak panel.

The fur has been very easy to render but the golden letter "esses" and the pair of tiny chain linking them are torture for me. I've blocked them in quickly but need to resize each one so they're consistent, even as they twist and rotate around the neck. In the original, they're modelled like pieces of chiselled metal with bevelled edges. As they move into the darkness at the shoulders, the gold areas of the letters become smaller and the bevelled edges in burnt sienna become more prominent; the curves in the "esse" shift as well. There's so much care taken in Holbein's painting of these small details that he must have spent a considerable amount of timing getting it just right... Each letter "esse" is truly unique.

The hands will be treated next...

Holbein - Colour, Values, Detail

In previous weeks, I've been working solely on the drapery, the robe, and in particular the velvet red arms -- leaving the skin colouring in the face for another day. The arms were easier than I thought. I used Cadmium Red Deep with pure Cadmium for the highlights.  In most online reproductions I've seen of this painting, the robe appears to be pure, solid black, which isn't likely given the light thrown on the figure. I decided to give it an indigo tint, just like the hat, to help bring out some of the folds.  I took the photo below outdoors and suddenly the green background seemed much brighter than I intended.

So on the next pass, each area will go several values deeper.  I have to concentrate on the darkest darks before moving into the lighter areas to get the correct range of values.

I made a start on the centre of the golden chain of office and will slowly lay out the basic shape before honing in on the details (close up below)... And there are exquisite details: a series of esses linked by chains, coming together at the centre with a Tudor rose strung .  It is supposed to be made of up a chain of esses, a pair of portcullises, from which hang a Tudor Rose, a combination of  the red rose of Lancaster and white rose of York.  As I'm painting the pedals, I can imagine a rose within a rose... 

Curiously, in other areas like the drapery, the paint layer is very thin. Either Holbein did it very quickly, trying to conserve paint, or conservators stripping the varnish to clean the painting pulled away some of the green.  What's left is very transparent.

Holbein Master Copy -- a new picture in progress

I started this project last fall. It will be a master copy of Holbein's Thomas More, painted to scale. The detail in the velvut cuffs, the fur collar and the stubble in the face are amazing. And learning how to paint them is the challenge I've taken on.

For the first time ever, I made use of an old fashioned "squaring up" technique: I drew a grid over a print that I bought years ago at New York's Frick Gallery and then drew a similar grid over my 24" by 30" canvas.

I've been concentrating on getting the face right and still have some minor adjustments to make to the jaw line. The real challenge though will be colour and I'm going to worry about it later. No two prints I've seen are alike and most that I have make the skin too yellow and the curtain too vibrant a green. Each print also brings out different details in each area, so I'm drawing on more than one version...

Version 1: Downloaded from the Google Art Project and its tour of the Frick Gallery in New York, where this painting hangs.

Version 2: Downloaded from the respected http://www.artrenewal.org/ archive of classical works.

Version 3: Downloaded from an internet picture archive