Aside from my portrait practice, war and conflict has been the subject of much of my recent artwork. The unchecked march of ISIS in the middle east first prompted me to address this subject. The preparation for the coming war against China reinforced my interest. The political climate that was feeding this frenzy was the inspiration behind my painting “Alleged Assault on Pax by Mars”. With the Russian invasion of Ukraine I felt a compulsion to work full time on “Men Wrestling” and “The Disasters of War”. Even though I was neglecting more commercial work, I felt it was important to make a statement with these paintings.
detail from Men Wrestling
What was the point?
The Israel-Hamas war has left me feeling empty. The brutality of it has shocked me, and I have been appalled by people’s reactions to it. I have no desire to pick up my paintbrushes and say anything about this war. Other than it disgusts me. Man disgusts me. We are no more than beasts. So in this dark mood I heard an interview with legendary war photographer Don McCullin, where he spoke about how depressed he was with the present conflict.
‘I am slightly depressed in a way, because I think everything I’ve done concerning international conflict, everything I have contributed to showing how awful it is, I think has been a waste of time really.’
‘I’ve looked at so many wars, I’ve been in so many wars, and nothing has changed.’
He summed up exactly how I was thinking, and got me wondering if art really can make a difference. Producing my anti-war paintings may be no more than a cathartic experience for me. If that is the case, what really is the point in painting them?
I think I will just concentrate on painting portraits from now on.
This is a question I often ponder over. Commissioning a portrait is not a spontaneous decision. It requires an investment of your time and money. It’s not just about recording a likeness, otherwise a photo will do. So why choose to commission an artist to paint your portrait? And is there a serious role for portrait painting in the modern world, or is it just a niche interest – a curious relic from history.
In the past a portrait was a symbol of wealth and status. But that was mainly down to the cost. Nowadays art materials cost a fraction of what they did, and artists are similarly no longer a scarce resource. A painted portrait won’t afford you the status that it would have in the past, so that’s no longer a reason to commission one. However, the good news is that commissioning a portrait is more affordable today than it has ever been.
selection of portraits in my studio
It’s not just a moment in time
A painted portrait can be so much more than just a snapshot of the sitter – it is a record of the sitting and the entire time spent posing for the artist. But it can also tell a story. It can allude to their past, and even suggest the future. I am sometimes asked to paint a portrait to commemorate a special moment in a relationship. It might be an anniversary or birthday, or even a celebration of surviving an illness. I like to think that the portraits I have painted are more than just records of my brief encounter with the sitter, but are evocations of special moments and memories.
The sitting and the importance of drawing
I find drawing is an essential step in the process of producing a portrait. Even when asked to work from photos, I will never skip the preparatory drawing stage. The act of drawing, of closely observing the subject for two or three hours, reveals qualities and attributes that I would not have noticed otherwise. This close observation enhances my understanding and connection with the subject, which I believe leads to a more intimate and informed representation of the sitter.
The Process
What distinguishes portrait painting from photography is the extended process required to produce a painting. I will have to go through the same steps that a portrait photographer will go through (choosing pose, attire, lighting, location) but that will only be the very first step in a longer and sometimes arduous journey. I paint in oil paint. It is an unruly medium: smelly; ruins your clothes and furniture; takes ages to dry, and can be difficult to use. But it is so versatile, and can produce sublime results. I am constantly learning new methods and techniques. I did once dabble with digital art. For a brief moment I was so relieved at not choking on nasty fumes or having to watch for paint splashes and wait for layers to dry, that I stupidly thought it might be the future of painting. But I soon saw that no computer algorithm can recreate the wonderful unpredictability of oil paint. The same things that are so frustrating about this medium are also it’s greatest qualities. When you load a bristle brush with a lump of oil paint and run it along the coarse surface of the canvas, you can’t predict exactly how it will turn out. It will often disappoint, but sometimes the simplest brushstroke can amaze. When you buy a painting, you are buying the product of that struggle between artist and medium.
Is Portrait Painting still relevant?
So those are some of my thoughts on why commissioning a portrait painting is still relevant in this day and age. In the modern world where all the talk is about NFTs and AI, there is a reassuring beauty and appeal about a traditionally painted portrait. It is so much more than just a likeness rendered on canvas. It is the product of a long process. It’s a journey that starts with the subject sitting down in front of the artist.
Available for Commissions
If you’re interested in commissioning a portrait, or would just like more information, please do get in touch via the email address on my Contact Page.
I have written a few case studies of previous commissions. They show you some of the decisions that had to be made in commissioning a portrait: Portrait Case Studies
Why do I feature nude figures in so many of my paintings, from my Relationships Series to the recent Disasters of War? It would certainly be easier to market my artwork if I just painted landscapes: no more polite rejections from venues; no shadowbans from Instagram. But no subject interests me quite as much as the human figure. I have always been fascinated with depictions of the human form in art. Maybe it started with my early love of comics, and the idealised perfection of superhuman figures cavorting across their pages. It might have been when I first set eyes on Tintoretto’s or Titian’s glorious mythological masterpieces in the National Gallery. It was a fascination cemented by my introduction to life drawing at art school. But the nude is a complicated subject in the 21st Century. It would be naive to suggest we can continue to paint the nude figure as it has always been painted. Many of the naked figures that now adorn the walls of our galleries were originally produced as thinly veiled titillation for their wealthy owners. I have started to question my own motivations for painting certain figures nude. When I work on paintings about the “male gaze” I cannot ignore the fact that I am a man, and I might have the same prejudices that I happily mock in other people.
Olympia by Edouard Manet, painted 1863
The Nude in Modern Art
I was taught at art school that Manet’s Olympia (shown above) was one of the first modern nudes in art. With no pretence of being an otherworldly goddess, this was a contemporary naked woman staring right back at the viewer. Manet was probably prepared for the outrage it caused, having provoked a similar scandal with his “Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbe”. I read an interesting article about that painting and the controversy it caused on Artsy.net When looking at the nude throughout the history of western art, you can see how the perception of the naked body in art depends on when and where the viewer was from. The nude becomes more like a dynamic idea, and the forces that alter our perception of the nude are changing all the time. In my short career as an artist I have had to reassess my own approach to the subject a couple of times.
Photo: Royal Academy of Arts/David Parry
Artists will always push boundaries
Just as Manet created a stir in the Salon, artist Marina Abramović caused some discomfort amongst visitors to her Royal Academy exhibition. by making them squeeze between two nude models to enter it (as in the photo above). It’s an interesting idea – remove the option for the viewer to remain a detached observer; force them to confront the nakedness of the models’ bodies. In news coverage of this long awaited retrospective, this unusual entrance has become the headline: “Visitors invited to squeeze through naked models” In a world awash with pornographic images on the internet, I wonder what boundaries artists have left to push in visual art. Good art should challenge us, and should test our sensibilities. But gratuitous nudity can be tiresome, and it is something I try to be alert to in my own work..
Relationships Series
Relationships Series
My professional art practice started with my Relationships Series paintings, where I explored the relationship between two figures within a composition in both a spatial and an emotional sense (an example shown above). This series had started as an honest portrayal of my own relationship with my partner, but at some point I began to question my own motivation and objectives.
As the series had developed, and featured different “couples”, I became aware that the interpretation of most viewers was overwhelmingly sexual, which wasn’t really my intention. I am proud of the paintings I produced with this body of work, but decided I needed to take my work in a different direction. You can see paintings from this series here: Relationships Gallery
Exercise in Objectification
Objectification and #selflove
Over the years I have received various commissions for nude portraits. The main motivations for women were self-empowerment and body positivity, which I respect and admire. I started a project called “Unnamed Portraits” which I naively thought might facilitate the same outcome for anyone who wanted to pose. With these artworks I would purposely crop the faces from the paintings, focusing instead on the naked body. I had a good response from potential models willing to pose for me . I suspect the readiness to pose stemmed from the same motivations as my nude portrait customers – essentially wanting to feel good about your body.
Unnamed Portraits on show at the London Ultra 2018
However. it turned out that my original ideas – which encompassed our sense of identity, sexuality and body positivity, were more expansive than the final paintings turned out. The risk was that instead of enabling female empowerment, they were simply reinforcing male objectification. And I missed painting the model’s face. I have always considered my nude paintings as just an extension of my portrait practice. I paused this project, and am still undecided about it.
Men in Suits
#metoo and the male gaze
I have already written at length about my experience painting “Men in Suits”, so won’t repeat myself here (the original post is here: Men in Suits. I mention this painting as it was a defining moment in my artistic development, where I identified the themes that I wanted to explore with my art, which I went on to develop over the next couple of years. This painting took so long to finish that the main motivation behind it – the #metoo movement – had long since disappeared from the headlines.
Continuing the theme with The Judgement of Men (detail)
Misogyny and male menace are pervasive in our patriarchal society. #metoo might not be on the frontpages now, but the underlying causes for the movement are still there. You can see some of my paintings that deal with these issues here: Recent Work
the disasters of war
Nakedness and Vulnerability
So why did I include so many naked figures in my latest painting The Disasters of War? The keyword here is naked. These figures are naked, exposed and vulnerable. Their nakedness has been forced on them as an act of humiliation and degradation. But despite this and their terrible situation, they preserve a sense of quiet dignity; there is a beauty about them. The figure on the left is based on Rubens’ Christ Descending from the Cross.
Although the naked figures are in no way sexualised, I wanted there to be an erotic undertone to the masked female figure wielding the knife. This alludes to the base instincts and urges that are feeding this awful war. When I witness the raptures of joy displayed with every killed soldier, I wonder just how close sex and violence are on the spectrum of primal instincts.
detail from Men in Suits
Future Work
The theme that I keep returning to in my recent work is male menace, and male objectification of women. These character traits (or flaws) have always been around. I cringe when I think about what was considered acceptable behaviour when I was young. I shudder to think of all the times when I acted inappropriately, especially when in a group of men. I have featured the likes of Prince Andrew in a number of my paintings, calling out his bad behaviour. But these paintings are really about all men. We are all culpable, including myself. This is why in my painting Men in Suits I included myself in the back, amongst the various sex pests and offenders. I also added a masked figure, who could well represent you, the viewer.
Proposal for artwork inspired by the Rite of Spring
The layout above was my proposal for the Concord Art Prize – a competition for artworks inspired by a piece of music. My proposition was inspired by The Rite of Spring – a composition that has everything. Starting with a joyful innocence it builds up slowly, ending in a dizzying climax – a frantic menacing finale. It was going to be the convergence of a number of themes that run through my work: beauty; sexuality; lechery; male menace. It’s one of my biggest disappointments that this proposal wasn’t accepted. I feel confident that it would have been an interesting project. I wrote more about the painting here: Rite of Spring
Two portraits – one unfinished in underpainting stage
Painting Technique: Glazing
I often bore people with long conversations about my use of glazes, without realising they don’t know what I’m talking about. So I thought I’d write a post about this wonderful technique, and how it has transformed my art. It’s not complicated. Glazing is applying transparent layers of paint over another dried layer of opaque paint. One benefit is that highlighted areas retain their saturation and luminosity, and don’t turn chalky, as is the case if you mix colours with white. Shadow areas can achieve a depth of colour you can’t achieve with a simple layer of opaque paint. The disadvantage in using this technique is it relies on some forethought in preparing a suitable underpainting, and that underpainting has to be allowed to dry before applying the glazes. This obviously slows down the painting process.
Note: I use oil paints, and everything I say applies to that medium. You can just as easily use glazes with acrylics, but I’m not qualified to advise on which mediums to use.
Underpainting stage compared to a finished painting with glazes applied
Grisaille Underpainting
Traditionally a “grisaille” underpainting was monochrome, but I tend to add a little colour during this earlier stage. I am careful to keep the tonal value in shadow areas fairly light, as glazes will deepen the final tone. The most difficult thing is anticipating how the glazes will look, especially as I might end up with six or more separate layers of glaze, to achieve the desired effect.
How Glazes Transformed my Art
When I studied at art school, there was no instruction in painting techniques. We were left to experiment and find our own means of expression. I embraced speed of execution and painted in an “alla prima” technique – wet paint onto wet paint. It was fine for landscapes (yes, I used to paint landscapes) but I became frustrated that I could not achieve the effects I wanted when painting portraits and figures. It wasn’t until I resumed painting years later, that I took the time to study traditional painting techniques. It was a revelation. Now I had the tools to create the paintings that I wanted, and it has allowed me to explore portraiture and nudes, which have always been my first love.
When applying glazes, you can use a cloth to remove the glaze from small areas
Glazing can be spontaneous
Having written about all the methodical preparation required in using this technique, I should add that they can be applied as freely and loosely as you like. The only limitation is the need then to allow each layer to dry. But if use an alkyd medium like liquin, or just add some to a traditional glaze medium, it will speed up drying times considerably. Technically you should only use transparent or semi-transparent paints with glazes (transparency/opacity is marked on every tube of artist oil). You can use the same technique with white or opaque colours, but it will give an entirely different effect. One example would be using a thin glaze with zinc white to paint the bloom on grapes.
If you like the effects achieved with glazes, you will find that all the paintings in my gallery pages have been painted using this technique.
I was very pleased to learn that my painting “Woman on Bed” won the Silver Award at the Cancer Feminine Art Prize 2023. An award is always nice, but the cash prize is also much appreciated 🙂 The competition was organised by Purple Octopus Art, who:
“provide a platform for art and expressive writing that addresses human disease and environmental issues”.
I will update this post with more information when Purple Octopus have updated their gallery with this years competition. In the meantime, you can find their website here: purpleoctopusart.com
Update
Their gallery is now live, with a selection of the artworks. Link below:
