Exercise 6 Creating mood and atmosphere

Initially I thought about trying to use non realistic colours and painting style similar to German Expressionists such as Paula Modersohn-Becker's 'Lee Hoetger and her sister', but somehow I couldn't settle on this. My subconscious wanted a little more realism.  I tried a couple of colour studies of my model thinking that the mood I would like to create was one of calm relaxation. I began with various mixes of blues, greens and purples on a white ground. Somehow my study came out rather more realistic than I first intended and seemed to be constantly fighting against too much simplification.  The method of using blocky paint application didn't seem to tie in with an air of calmness. Should I change the intended outcome to a different or the brushwork or the colours? Should I go more in the direction of Picasso's blue paintings or even Rembrandt? By this stage the sitter had only a certain amount of time so I decided to stick to blues and purples while trying to create an air of quiet introspection. I tried another colour study on a dark ground first. Both versions had their advantages; the white ground it would be easier to retain the lightest lights where the ground is left unpainted creating a vibrant glow. The dark ground it would be easier to retain the darks  ie. the nostril and pupils of the eyes, although I had to re-assert these when they became partly obliterated by lighter paint, due to the awkwardness of the small scale. I think the dark ground would fit the relaxed mood better if I blend the brushmarks more in my next attempt.
At one point during the process of the final painting I became conscoious that I might be finally discovering how to better control the brush. I was now using a wider flat (size 6) in quite small areas, like the eye sockets, with confidence. Also holding it further away from the tip - similar to a knife when spreading butter both hard and soft, I seemed to have improved flexibility in my wrist. It didn't solve the need to use a tiny brush for the finer details of the eyes - but you can't have everything. I scraped back some areas with a plastic card to obtain variation in surface texture and scratched out certain other areas, but these aren't so visible, except to expose some of the raw canvas..
The highlights gradually became so light that I was eventually using the odd touch of pure white in the end.

colour study 1

Finally, the face looks a bit overworked in relation to the top, which I think looks more painterly. On seeing John Minton's  self portrait (Research Point 1) it makes me feel a little better in this regard.

colour study 2

The eyelids appear to be covered in a veil of mist, due to my laboured attempts to add convincing highlights, but they repeatedly slipped into undesired areas, so I reinstated the eyelid creases. This was a very delicate operation which I struggled with repeatedly. I wanted to try a variety of techniques in one painting: 1. all prima - didn't really work as I had to leave the part completed painting and return three or four times over the course of a few days, because my energy levels were very low, due to a heavy cold. As a consequence some paint was  tacky when I painted over it - not ideal. 2. scraping back some still wet areas with a knife or plastic card. I was fairly pleased with the effect as it revealed parts of the mid tone ground  - a thick and thin effect, although the result is only subtle. All the while I subconsciously wanted to achieve a likeness of the sitter, so I found it necessary to fiddle around with the shadow and tonal variations, to try and balance them. It seemed to take forever...

early stages of painting -
the basic tones mapped in

completed painting - this is not a good re-production

Thoughts on the completed painting: The paint in parts does appear to have some expressiveness. It is definitely evocative of a particular mood. Some of the brushmarks on the shirt,  a certain liveliness. On the forehead the wrinkles, along with the faraway look in the eyes, contribute to a tinge of  anxiety   in the sitter's expression, adding a certain edginess to the otherwise calm atmosphere. Aswell as this, the eyes looking away gives the sitter a look of moody  introspection and and mysterious air to the whole. The glow emitted from the light source, onto the face tends to give him an angelic look in a strange way.  The mood is also one of calmness, created mostly I think, by the blues and mauves and the blended brushwork. Both the sitter and  I think it is a good  likeness, fairly realistic, yet a little unusual because of the unrealistic flesh tones. 

Completed painting after alterations

On the initial version there are small rivers of canvas showing through in places. This is because I  had scraped back some of the paint to give a look of unevenness. I don't think, looking at it again, that this effect does anything positive for the painting; the paint looks too sparse and I'm not keen on the appearance of canvas showing through so much now; my tutor didn't criticize this apart from the lower right of the face. Upon revisiting, following certain suggestions she made I worked over this area gently but found it looked thicker and more intense alongside the other areas; they looked faded and hazy in comparison. Despite my attempts to blend and soften it, the lower right side of the face still has a rivulet like appearance,  but this was what I saw.  I started to find fault with many other areas of the face and hair which led me on to continue adding alterations. I also tried to quieten down the background by blending the paint more. Doing this and adding another layer using slightly darker tones than the previous layer, I think it has also had the effect of bringing the face into dramatic focus, reminiscent of chiaroscuro.

this study was considered as possible
 alternative option.

I didn't try to disguise the beard and facial hair, but rather tried to soften its appearance. I think it does mostly softer in spite of a dark shadow  on the right, contrasting quite strongly with the light grey beard. This shadow is what I could see so I didn't try to tone it down. In the end it is pretty evident that virtually the whole painting has undergone an alteration/addition of some sort, even so I am quite confident that this has been to its advantage.

Research point 2 Looking at faces 2 Paintings conveying a distinctive mood or atmosphere

Picasso's blue paintings: Pablo Picasso's blue period lasted about four years - from 1901- 04. But what triggered it? Partly, it is believed, that the suicide of his closest friend Carles Casagemas was a major factor.

Jaime Sabartes, a close friend at the time, wrote:“Picasso believed Art to the son of Sadness and Suffering… that sadness lent itself to meditation and that suffering was fundamental to life… If we demand sincerity of an artist, we must remember that sincerity is not to be found outside the realm of grief.”

In these moving paintings, he portrayed sad, destitute people. The colour blue is all pervading. It is a very subdued and cold blue. He used it very effectively to exude a mood of despair and hopelessness. These people were regarded as outcasts of society - beggars, itinerants, prostitutes, circus people, disabled people and out of work actors. The figures wear dark sombre clothing contrasting with the icy paleness of their skin tones. Their mood reflects Picasso's own poor and lonely circumstances at the time - it is ironic that these are some of his most popular works now.
Drunk Woman is Tired:
http://uploads1.wikiart.org/images/pablo-picasso/drunk-woman-is-tired-1902.jpg!Large.jpg
Seller of Gulls:
http://uploads4.wikiart.org/images/pablo-picasso/seller-of-gul.jpg!HD.jpg

The potato eaters 1885
oil on canvas,
82cm x 114 cm,
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Van Gogh - The Potato Eaters 1885 and  Peasant woman cooking by a fire 1885:
http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/436531
. He has depicted these people as simple and unpretentious. Heavy contours emphasize the boney hands and faces to show they work on the land and indicate that they are the very hand that helped to put the food on their plates. It is almost as though he could feel the contours as he was painting them or was carving them out from wood. This reinforces the weariness of each person. The steam rising from the platter and the lamplight help to soften the rough hewn features of the painting.

It really encapsulates the hard labour involved to earn their food.
The rather sombre feeling is captured wonderfully also by the contrasting light
and deep shadows in earth tones.


Rembrandt - Aristotle Contemplating the Bust of Homer c1653
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_013.jpg
This contains much more background detail than many of his usual head and shoulder portraits. It is said to shows the philosopher looking weary and deferring to the bust of the humble Homer.
It is possible to zoom in very closely and check the fine detail, the quality of this image on wikipedia is so good. The layers of glazing are quite visible - I can see the undulating depths of the dark blues and umbers in the background and there is a beautiful misty quality about the whole image, characteristic of Rembrandt's paintings. The two faces are the main focal points as they are the most brightly illuminated. The illusion is one of a spotlight on the faces. This is chiaroscuro, an effect typically characteristic of Rembrandt's work.The surrounding background areas particularly, are very dark.  as the overall light effect is quite soft when compared to, for example the dramatic contrasts of Carravaggio. Rembrandt's painting here, to me exudes an air of understanding, gentleness and quiet contemplation.

Van Gogh, the Fauvists and Expressionists: 

Both the Fauvist and German Expressionist painters were heavily influenced by Van Gogh in the use of bright contrasting colours and thick impasto brushwork and he is noted for introducing this method.
He tried to explain to his brother, Theo: "Instead of trying to reproduce exactly what I have before my eyes, I use color more arbitrarily, in order to express myself forcibly. ...
Many in the art world of the time were very critical of  the work of Van Gogh, the Fauvists and Expressionists and even regarded some of it as grotesque. How times have changed....
Amongst members of the Fauvist movement were of course Matisse and Derain, also Charles Chamoin, Louis de Vlaminck, Georges Roualt and Raoul Dufy.
The work of Georges Roualt, who was also an Expressionist,  usually consisted of glowing colour and heavy black contours, probably influenced by his earlier apprenticeship as a glass painter and restorer. Most of his subjects have a haunted look.
The work of both Fauvists and German Expressionists were influenced by primitive art and would typically be dominated by flat unbroken areas of saturated colour and simplified forms. They used colour in portraits in an experimental way, creating their own equivalent of traditional skin tones in bright saturated mostly complementary colours. The German Expresssionists also used colour to evoke emotions with their dramatic, powerful colours, dynamic compositions. They were divided into two groups: Der Blaue Reiter (Blue Rider) in Munich. Wassily Kandinsky was a member. and De Brucke (The Bridge) based in Dresden and Berlin.

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner often depicted uncomfortable looking figures in movement. His outlook that powerful destructive forces were behind western civilisation affected his techniques.
http://www.wikiart.org/en/ernst-ludwig-kirchner/street

In this landscape it is possible to get a real close up view of the brushwork, while not impasto, it has been applied very freely.
http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2012/impressionist-modernt-art-evening-sale-l12002/lot.37.html
In another one he appears to have used sgraffito, impasto and scraped back some of the paint to expose the texture of the canvas here and there.
http://lifeodyssey.net/art-kirchner-expressionism/

Karl Schmidt-Rottluff  used intense thick  impasto brushwork and strong colour in his early paintings. In this self portrait, the colours are unmixed, yet work effectively as skin tones. Although the colours used here are muted, in spite of that they are strong and mostly unrealistic. The detail shows just how thickly he applied the paint:

Detail of brushwork

http://www.germanculture.com.ua/december/dec1.htm
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/schmidt-rottluff-woman-with-a-bag-n05953

Exercise 5 Head and shoulder portrait

exploring the head &
face

For this portrait I decided from the start to try a profile.My sitter was wearing a teal blue shirt and there was a light neutral coloured background, containing a picture and a mirror on the wall, a lamp and a dado rail running from one side to the other. I began with a few sketches in line and tonal sketches.
The first part of the painting was monochromatic black, greys and white - a grisaille underpainting in acrylic to work out the tonal variations. Oils were used for the remainder of the painting.
I used round brushes more than I usually do and found them flexible, the small ones useful for detail. Also a long flat size 8 in the shirt area, but later reverted back to the usual flats, as I just feel more comfortable with them. I put the background elements in to give just a vague suggestion of what's there as I wanted the figure to be more prominent.

1 underpainting

2 

I used a complementary scheme of prussian blue and cadmium red and yellow. The blue colour of the sitter's shirt was roughed in first and was quite quick to do. The colours I used in the first mix for the face and neck  were very yellow. Initially I intended to use an unrealistic skin colour for the skin thinking it would add interest, but changed my opinion when I saw it after application. The fact that it made the model look jaundiced didn't help. I rubbed most of it off with a turpsy rag and instead mixed in more cadmium red approximating something nearer to the model's own colouring, although it was still going to be quite orange. I didn't mind this. Some quite dry brushwork was used around the beard area and it mixed with the still wet colours beneath. I applied the darker medium tones to early  so it wasn't until well advanced with also the light a dark tones on the face that I could reallysee whether the medium tone looked convincing.

3 Initial finished painting

After completing the background in blue/green tones the blue tone of the shirt appeared to isolated so I added some of the background colours with more prussian blue added to help pick up the green tones of the background. I seemed a lot of mixing in this painting. Midtones of the blue/greens from the background and shirt were added to the hair to highlight the light from the window behind me and at the same time show reflected colours - I quite like the way they do this. When I thought I was finished I suddenly noticed dark tones of the ears looked to hard, so softened them with touches of lighter flesh tones after they had dried so as not to pick up the dark paint from underneath. This was a big improvement. The ears were amongst others areas (mouth and eye) I fiddled around with for ages to try and get a convincing representation. As I wasn't happy to stop painting when my time with the sitter had run out, I finished off some of the finer details with the help of  a couple of photos.
 Looking at the painting later  I feel that the beard needs more suggestion of directional growth and a little more volume is needed in the hair over the forehead. Although the face has reflected the light from the window, I think the central part of the cheek could be blended more with surrounding tones and the whole face and neck might benefit from a glaze or two to tone it down. Funnily enough, the sitter seemed to be pleased with the results and said that he thought it was a good likeness.
As my tutor suggested, I could benefit from investigating skin tones further and to examine those of Euan Uglow's figure paintings. Indeed I did look closely at them, but wasn't able to find anything about the palette/s he normally uses. This is quite an old self portrait from 1964:
http://ruthborchard.org.uk/collection/euan-uglow/
So, I took some advice from a more experienced painter I know, especially of portraits, who also suggested using liquin as a glaze
 https://www.flickr.com/photos/reginacarbayo/9365470043/
I went over the skin tones, basing them loosely on Velasquez palette:

 4 After alterations -
photograph lower quality than
the first (above)

black, light red, yellow ochre and white. I had no black so I mixed something approximating black - prussian blue and burnt umber. For the head, facial and neck hair I also used a mix of phthalo green and scarlet lake. I know from what little experience I have, how much time can be wasted by using the wrong colour mixes and tone - it looks so obvious in the skin, if the idea is to obtain something convincing. I soon discovered that to obtain more accuracy I had to play down the tones slightly more than the first mixes. I mixed liquin into the later applications, this was more to help speed up the drying time than anything else. As paint becomes more transparent when liquin is combined with it, so becomes a glaze, I found it had great potential to add quite delicate transparency and  to light skin tones, although in my case I think it was rather crudely handled.
The areas I altered were to further soften the shadow to the ear, and general toning down of skin colour. The beard carefully rendered the beard to soften the transition between the beard and the skin The hair has been painted over the skin around the neck as the skin looked before like it growing over the hair. More hair has been added to the top of the forehead. I used thin wispy strokes all over the head hair to blend in with the extra chunk added to the front of the forehead using a mix of mostly phthalo green and scarlet lake and a small amount of the same was added to the top of the shirt for reflections and shadows. I do think there is an improvement in the skin and hair now, though I can't help thinking of stage make-up when I look at the face.

Exercise 4 Self Portrait

One of the experimental sketches I did
before embarking on the self portrait painting.
This one is done in oils.

On playing around with light, mid tone and dark backgrounds the one with the most contrast and impact was the midtone. This contrasts with the both the shadow side and the light side of my head when I half close my eyes. I did several sketches to prepare for this, they were very experimental - mostly taken from Emily Ball's book.
To make a convincing representation though, I will have to try an follow the next steps in a more formal exacting way than the sketches up to now as this is the impression I get from the brief  - at least to attempt somewhere near accurate proportions and tonal range. So, I tried sketching out certain individual facial features such as the eyes, nose and mouth just to become more familiar with them. It's surprising when  under close scrutiny, how many little nuances I spotted, that would otherwise go unnoticed.
 I decided to base my own palette one that Goya used for portraits, consisting of black, white, an earth red and yellow ochre. I would have like to use Burnt Sienna, but didn't have any so instead mixed cadmium red and burnt umber. The ground is a warm mid tone of cadmium red and burnt umber.
As I was afraid to jump straight in with paint, I started sketching the features in lightly with pencil. As I was doing this I moved away once of twice and had to try and gauge by sight what position my head was in beforehand - this was awkward and it's part of the reason my mouth kept moving around. Then, not before time I suddenly remembered from portraits on my drawing course, that I had put a couple of marks on the mirror and lined them up something on my face. The process was a bit more straightforward after that.
During the process of the painting my appearance changed from
something akin to the mad look of Salvador Dali after I had only the darks filled in, to a much inferior version of a Boticelli.

Self portrait - acrylics

Some of the problems I encountered were: 1. I had to maneouvre all the furniture in my small space to a position where I could hang a fabric behind me for the background. This meant I didn't have a lot of space in front of my easel to stand back and check things from a distance. Instead I moved the painting to where I could do that every now and again.
2. Setting up a mirror: my only other easel is a table easel and though not too big, it was a wall mirror and heavy, so I placed it on the easel on a large box on a table top to obtain the right height.
3. Light: to light one side of the face, I began with natural light, but this kept on changin, so I changed to a combination of artificail and natural light. Because I continued into the evening after the natural light had faded this added to the confusion. I tried to stick to the basic tones I put down at first but it wasn't easy.

Exercise 3 Tonal Figure Study

Natural light for the first two sketches.
1. Conte crayon. This was meant to a very simplified sketch using cylindrical forms. Although I was aware of this from the start somehow I could not resist adding tonal areas whever the opportunity presented itself. The forms looked rounded and cylindrical even prior to adding shadows and I was pleased with the proportions and angles.
2. Pencil. The model's back is too long relative to other areas ie. the head and lower body. The feet were stretched out although I couldn't see any obvious faults in my own interpretation. However, the right foot appears to be an odd shape and does not look like a normal human foot to me.
3. Artificial and natural light from right. Charcoal on green paper. A lot of foreshortening in this one. I like the angle here - interesting. I think the hands look pretty convincing too. But, because I'm not happy with the way I did the hair and face - umm.. it is not a candidate for painting.

1

4. Conte crayon - black. Similar angle to no.1. This is a close second to no.1. I ran out of room for the left foot. Even so the legs look too short and the body too wide. I do like the way the fabric folds on the shorts and the shape of the shadows to the left of the back.

3

The Picasso in the course manual and Mainie Jelett's Seated Nude are similar to what I would aspire to - both in a cubist style. Simplified but semi-abstract appeal.

2

4

Tonal Study - Painting
Under painting muted green
Tried some samples of colours on a test piece with the same green background. Ended up mixing multiple colours and tones from just ultramarine, cadmium red, cadmium yellow and white. During the process I began to realize I should try cut the mixes down a little. I did most of the painting from the sketches (no.s 1 and 4) and a couple of photos. Although the model was quite patient, I didn't want to ask him to keep still for the whole painting aswell (on and off). Applying the paint didn't take a huge amount of time - three to four hours, but I struggled in the early stages with the tones, even though I previously thought I had them worked out. If I had limited the palette a bit more it would have been easier. Interestingly I found the tones easier to blend (so as to soften some edges) after about three hours or so.
Summary On the whole, I am quite pleased with the outcome of this painting.  I find the whole colour combination,  the surrounding elements and space, with the flesh colours and tones, quite appealing despite my struggle with the flesh tones. I like the horizontal movement from lower left to upper right and I think I succeeded with the foreshortening on this occasion. In the main the brushwork appears to have more interesting qualities when compared to most of my other paintings from this part of the course, which all came later..

Tonal study

Exercise 2 Linear figure study

A brush and paints is this time required to do the contours. I have literally zero experience with this type of sketch:
1. On a green mid toned ground of raw and raw sienna. The results reflect my lack of skill here. The brow lines lack fluidity and my attempt to add creases in the model's shorts are totally unconvincing. I wasn't at all happy to leave it with just one study, so practised with a few more, this time with a sumi brush and burnt umber and ultramarine acrylic. An idea gleaned from the same book - Expressive Figure Drawing by Bill Buchman - this is full of great ideas for figure drawing. Some of them remind me of Matisse's flowing lines he used in figures. I thought they looked simple but how totally underestimated how difficult it would be! An initial standing pose from the book didn't seem too challenging but but this changed when it was applied to my own figure sketches: The lying down pose from the side again didn't work well so I attempted no.2 with the head furthest away - think there was an improvement there.
The lines still don't flow as well as I would like. I added a wash to some areas for more impact and interest. I think it has had the desired effect.

1 Looking at Faces - Research point 1

Lucien Freud

 John Minton by Lucien Freud,  1952
40cm x 25.4 cm, oil on canvas,
Royal College of Art, London 

It is interesting to observe how Freud's painting method changed over time, as did Rembrandt's (see below),  from smooth almost translucent finish (as in the portrait (right) of John Minton) to the  thick, sculptural impastos of his later work. Though Freud built up some surfaces materialising in a more gritty almost rocky quality, maybe he did more scraping off and re-building with the paint. 
The painting to the right is a typical example  of Freud's earlier painting style. The brushwork looks smooth and refined with very fine detail, emitting an overall soft, translucent quality. The green in the top and grey from the background are reflected in the face. The sitter’s expression is sad and mournful, perhaps yearning .The head is tilted down slightly to one side. The eyes appear glassy, even tearful – as though he could have lost a sixpence and found a penny. Fine grey wisps of head and eyebrow hair are indicated in profusion with fine brush strokes.

John Minton Self Portrait,
c. 1953 Oil on canvas, 35.6 x 25.4 cm
National Portrait Gallery, London

Minton Self portrait the expression is again sad looking and the head downcast. The application on the face is relatively smooth - finely outlined contours of feature in pinkish and ochre tones, colours reflected from the background. The face is thin and angular. The long narrow proportions of the picture format echo the mood and proportions of the sitter. Only the upper torso is visible. The top appears to have been painted quickly and spontaneously. White painted scumbled over dark red underpainting quite roughly. The shirt collar and other outlines completed in both dark and light paint. In contrast with the textured unfinished looking appearance of the clothing the background is very, smooth, refined and neutral.

 Lucien Freud – Self portrait 1985. Head and shoulders. As with all Freud’s self portraits there is a confident and determined and intense expression. It is meticulously painted. Freud had a way of painting the skin in intricate detail as if he was looking under the skin, not just the surface.  This is a good example of this mature style - thick impasto paint has been applied to the face and has an undulating almost rocky appearance compared to the smooth background. The head appears to be lit from above as the left side of the face is in shadow. The neck and the left upper torso are shaded by the face. Because the background in nondescript, it bring the face into focus. The whites of the eyes look dull as they are also in shadow. He appears to be looking away even though it is a self portrait.
http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/lucian-freud/reflection-self-portrait-1985
Other (later) self portraits in various techniques:
http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/lucian-freud/interior-with-hand-mirror-self-portrait
http://uploads5.wikipaintings.org/images/lucian-freud/self-portrait.jpg

Francis Bacon by Lucien Freud this is painted in a similar fashion to John Minton's portrait.

Freud by Francis Bacon and Bacon Self Portrait Bacon did several portraits of his friend and contemporary. If some of Freud's work looks slightly unsettling, Bacon takes things to another level: Bacon's portraits contain tortured distorted images, features removed in places and exagerated in others. The whole head is contorted as if inner torment is made visible on the outside. In 'Three Studies for Portrait Lucien Freud' 1964 could be, for instance, describing various forms of mental torment, perhaps three stages of a  breakdown,  a migraine or a shift in personality.
On this link there are numerous portraits of Lucian Freud by Francis Bacon and a couple of Bacon by Freud http://www.ananasamiami.com/2011/06/francis-bacon-lucian-freud.html

This one links up to another page on the same blog featuring portraits of various sitters by Freud
http://www.ananasamiami.com/search/label/Lucian%20Freud

Leon Kossoff Self Portrait c1952
Very intense looking  caused by such a closed in view.  Yet the face appears quite anonymous maybe due to the  quite generalised looking facial features. Very thick paint, possibly smeared on in places. The combination of dark tones with acrid yellows under splashes of dull red seem to result in a sickly looking, perhaps troubled mood. A dramatic effect overall,  which I find quite mesmerising.
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/self-portrait-looking-up-78681
Leon Kossoff by Frank Auerbach c1951:http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/auerbach-portrait-of-leon-kossoff-l02669
This one has a similar atmosphere to the self portrait (above) in that the colour and tonal balance is very similar and the features generalized. The face is lit from the left but the background appears to be in darkness. Although the head here is again in close up it doesn't possess the intensity of Kossoff's. This must be due to the fact that the sitter's gaze is this time directed downwards and not at the viewer, looking rather brooding and introspective. The paint is also applied thickly but more smoothly and the overall effect is comparitvely calm.

Derain Self Portrait in Studio c 1903

Andre Derain, Self Portrait in Studio c. 1903

Oil on canvas, 422 x 346mm (16 5/8 x 13 5/8") 

National Gallery of Australia. 

Sydney only

The depicts himself in the act of painting, even caught in the act. The brushwork is very free and executed in a simplified way. Complementary colours of blue and orange are used widely. It is almost abstract in nature.
Derain has placed himself over to one side and in the background of the other side, a quite detailed cabinet and articles positioned above it. Everything looks well balanced - complementary colours, the shapes, sizes and directions of elements.  His pose is slightly tilted to the top left corner and the direction of line created by the edges of the furniture and walls behind in a diagonal flow from the lower left to top right. His dark suit and colourful palette are counterbalanced by the position of the small dark articles at the top right and the large cabinet on the right. The paint appears to have been applied more flatly than in his portrait by Matisse (below). As in Matisse's portrait though, Derain uses juxtaposed complementaries extensively, but in slight contrast, here, dark muted browns and blues are also used. It looks as though the orange and blue have been muted by the addition of a brown or by their respective complementary ie. orange to blue and blue to orange.
After 1905 , Derain began to use saturated colours influenced by the strong light and by Matisse,  while on holiday with him in the South of France.

Portrait of Andre Derain by Henri Matisse:

Andre Derain by Henri Matisse c. 1905, 

Oil on canvas, 394 x 289 mm, 

Tate Gallery, London

Looking at  the way the brushmarks and colour have been applied, this is to me so typically Fauvist. Two sets of complementaries are used - red against green on one side  and  blue next to orange on the other. Because the cool blue and greens are located in the background the warm colours in the head are brought into focus. The paint, thickly applied on the face, looks as though a brush loaded with paint of more than one colour was used ie. red and yellow. Other areas seem to be painted loosely  and the artist's top, with simple long strokes. The white of the background shows through in places helping I think, to bring sparkle and balance to the composition. Positioning of the upper torso to the left with the head tilted to the right also contribute to the balanced effect.

http://uploads4.wikipaintings.org/images/suzanne-valadon/self-portrait-1883.jpg

Rembrandt and his studio
His paintings are so often suffused in a delicate haze, giving a gentle quality to his subjects. In the later paintings the surface of the flesh and clothing look much more solid and three dimensional.

Rembrandt self portrait c1628-29
oil on oak panel
22.6 x 18.7 cm
Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

Jan Lievens portrait
of Rembrandt  van Rijn c1629
oil on panel, 
57 x 44.7 cm
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

It is interesting to see the way other artists from Rembrandt's workshop have portrayed him: in both portraits the finer details aren't as pronounced as in Rembrandt's own versions. They are on the whole, softer looking and, I think, kinder to the man than he has been to himself. Considering the later portraits were done around a similar time, Rembrandt has portrayed himself as much older looking: he looks an old man - his face is very life worn, yet alert and cheerful, but he has a marked stoop. In the other portrait he is much more upright, his face looks younger and quite astute.

Rembrandt by Studio of Rembrandt c1660-69
oil on canvas 76.5 x 61.6 cm
National Gallery of Victoria,
Melbourne, Australia

Rembrandt self portrait c1662
oil on canvas, 82.5 × 65 cm 
Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum.