Since my last post featured "The Reader" I think today's is appropriate. One of the benefits of my portrait project is meeting people I likely wouldn't have had I not ventured out into this idea.
Don Gayton is an very accomplished writer (see more at www.dongayton.ca) as well as an excellent subject for painting. For a painter of people there is nothing so fun as a beard.
His portrait which I call "The Scribe" was successfully juried into the FCA 70th Anniversary show at the Granville Island Gallery in November.
Notice how engaging the eyes are and yet if I enlarge them you can see that not much detail is in there. You have completed them yourself. Sometimes less can be more. Also you can see how I've intentionally heightened the value contrast in the sunlit eye. This would not happen in reality. His pupil would contract and the value would be lighter. I liked this better as it pulls you into his eyes. Art defeats illustration in a case like this.
I am going back outdoors to paint again. The fall colours are here now and I'm looking forward to painting the winter this year.
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