Saturday 14 November 2015

Show Your Face in the Style of ...

...an established artist.

That is the "challenge" over at lovely Kim Dellow's "Show Your Face" community event for November.

And this is my share for starters: 



When I think about painted faces the portraits by Amedeo Modigliani are the first ones that come to my mind in the very first place. I love how simple his portraits look and yet he has managed to capture a very intimate moment where the portrayed person's face allows us to take a look behind the facade and reveals something deeply intimate or even the persons' very natures.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/302656037430410195/


For some examples that have especially impressed me click HERE or HERE.

Being way too over-focussed on a natural look with my drawings or paintings I challenged myself this time to try and follow Modigliani's way of elongating the faces' proportions (but still let them feel quite natural and touching instead of artificial).

I also love his way of applying the paint to the canvas...but as it is one step at a time when trying something new, I decided to just focus on this one aspect for a start.

I needed a photograph with a person whose facial expression was somehow special, meaningful, touching...and I found a picture of a guy in a home decor magazine who is at work in his pottery studio and obviously loving what he does. So my aim was to try capture the wonderful expression on his face - as this is what makes Modigliani's portraits so wonderful to me.



 I used a (very) small canvas for my experiment and made a rough and quick sketch with a soft pencil first.
 

Then I went in with a fine tip brush and did the black lines first. I knew that some would get lost during the painting process anyway so I didn't spend too much time on being very precise with that step.



Next I started to build up layers of paint, trying to use colour tones close to the ones Modigliani used with his portraits.



As you can see I didn't stick to the colours of the photograph. I focussed on the face and on trying to let go of my usual over-accurateness that most of the time "kills" my paintings or drawings. I think I could have been even more brave with elongating the proportions....but hey - maybe a second try will get me (and the portrait) closer to that Modigliani feel. ;)

I am super curious about the other faces that will be shared over at Kim's place this time!

http://www.kimdellow.co.uk/2015/11/show-your-face-in-style-of-toyen-aka.html


Hugs and happy crafting,
Claudia x



10 comments:

  1. I must say I love this. It is special. As a fan of Modigliani I can say you captured the feel. Super nice.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Came to look...what a fabulous style, love seeing the layers and each stroke building to the end result. Wonderful work Claudia. Ruth xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fabelhaft das Portrait Claudia!
    Deine Gesichterinspirationswand bei Pinterest muss ich mir jetzt auch noch gleich durchschauen!
    Toll hast Du Dich eingestimmt für Dein "Modigliani inspiriertes" Arbeiten!
    Ich schick Dir liebe Grüße nach Wien und wünsche Dir ein schönes Wochenende liebe Claudia!
    Busserl!
    Susi

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow Claudia, this is just amazing! You have done wonders with your highlights and shadowing! I`m so freaking impressed with your talent right now, holy cow! hugs :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Absolutely fantastic . I adore your shading and colours . You are so talented. Tracy x

    ReplyDelete
  6. holy Claudia, this is wonderful!!! you are so very talented...i love the expression you captured in his face!

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is fabulous! You did an amazing job capturing the expression of this artisan in Modigliani's style. I too suffer from over-accurateness and wasn't able to overcome yet, but sometimes I really enjoy it. I love Modigliani and I thought of doing a sculpture to avoid my fear of a more free painting.
    Thanks for the great inspiration!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Your portrait caused my eye in Kim's place, because it looks like it could be the same guy I drew for my entry. I love Modigliani too, by the way. Blessings!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Nice work, it says as much about you as it does about the subject.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Saubere Arbeit liebe Claudia,sag ich mal. Gefällt mir besser als die Modiglianis. Perfekte Erfassung des Gesichts und aufs wesentliche reduziert,bravo! Auch farblich sehr schön.
    Deine Post geht gleich auf den Weg,endlich!
    Liebe Grüße
    Sabine

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for your visit and especially for taking the time to leave me a short comment! This is highly appreciated! xxx