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Portrait commissions and despair

Kitchen garden in the village.
Desperate portrait painter working in the vegetable garden.

Portrait painting is my daily job. But don´t think that everything always runs smoothly for me. It sometimes happens to me that a portrait fails. In the case of a commission it is a big problem. Of course over the years I have developed a routine wherein I, step by step, can detect a possible problem and fix it. Needless to say, that belongs to my profession. But sometimes it happens that I desperately wonder how to proceed when I find my self in deep trouble.

Once I was in such despair that I decided to destroy the portrait on my easel. Eventually I realized that that was ridiculous. After a while I decided to start over again the next day. I went into the garden to work and have some distraction. Then, when I came back in my studio, I saw the abortive work on the easel. As the painting already was screwed up I decided, I could just haphazardly do some muddling.

And what was the result? In fifteen minutes the portrait was back on track and after an hour it was finished! I was satisfied and later certainly the customer was.

What now is the essence of my story? (Evident of course): If you tend to get stuck do not despair but take distance and relax. The solution may be within reach, but you don´t see it because you’re so wired up.

Sheer willpower can sometimes be destructive!

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Too young for books?

Zo leer je Tekenen. by Tjomme de Vries.
My first book. Zo leer je Tekenen. Tjomme de Vries. 1962.

In addition to my previous post.

I was a young kid, maybe ten years old. I really wanted to learn to draw. I practised a lot. But I already knew that exercise alone was not enough. I would also have to purchase study books. However it still took some years before I would convert my plan into action. Money was scarce at our house: we were eight children. Eight mouths to be fed; eight children to be clothed. One day, the sixties had dawned and a fledging financial relief appeared on the horizon: I received my initial pocket money! (The first 10 cents I spent on a bag of new nails. I liked carpentry and was tired of straightening and reusing the rusty, bent nails as my father showed me.)

After months and months of saving I gathered enough capital to proceed with the purchase. I remember I walked into the book store. I went straight to the small section arts and crafts, right to the book that I had already browsed through so many times: ZO LEER JE TEKENEN (This way you learn how to draw).  I settled the bill,  the book was neatly packed, and I left the shop. Proud as a peacock I went home.

I really don´t remember if I studied a lot from that book. I will have examined the pictures, but much text I will have skipped. I had mild difficulty with written text. And for many theories I was too impatient. Still the book is in my library and occasionally I look through it. The work is far too difficult for a young kid, I know now. Later genuine drawing skills I learned from Beatus Nijs. I am still grateful to have had the opportunity to follow his classes.  (see below)

Quick drawing of a live model
Male nude. charcoal drawing.
nude study
Female nude. charcoal drawing.
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How I began to dream of art

1955. Me and my family. Later we were 10!
1955. Me in the middle. Three-foot-tall and full of dreams.

I was about four years old. In the parish house of our village, around Christmas time, a performance was organized for the children of members of the Catholic Labor Union. I was late, the show had started already. In the half-light I found an empty seat in the back of the hall. On the stage stood a man in front of a huge desk with a large sheet of paper. In smooth lines he drew all kinds of everything on the paper. First a seat and, right beside, a table. At that table he draw a lamp. Even more to the right and slightly above the lamp he drew a light switch. What he did then I shall never forget in my whole life. He pressed on the drawn switch and turned on the lamp!!! Real electric light came shining from the drawing paper! I was ecstatic! I felt a sort of sensation I could only put into words years later. This man did his show for nobody else other than me! As if I was the only boy in the hall.

Then he said, he would make a quick drawing of someone from the audience, I thought he must have me! But I was way in the back of that dark hall. In a reflex, I stood up and leaned against the back wall. That was the right move! The man looked into the hall and said, “That little boy back there,” and pointed at me. I was chosen and had to come on the scene! He quickly drew in a few surefire lines my face in profile.

I kept the drawing for years. The experience of that day has always remained with me crisp and clear. The blissful feeling of being elected and becoming part of the great secret of the art of drawing, determined my direction.

Years later, I met the man by chance. I talked about that day, but he could not remember me. Obviously. But he is etched in my memory. His name was Father Hilarius.

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Portrait painting and imagination

watercolour portrait
Watercolour demonstration for the children.

This week my friend Julian Despaigne came to visit me with a group of children from the village. Every year he organizes a kind of summer school, now children are on holiday. They do amazing things. Visits to the village monuments where he explains and tells stories from the history, treasure hunting through the streets and much more. Last week they visited the village blacksmith, and now they have paid me a visit in my studio. I told them something about portrait painting and mixing paint. In a five-minute demo I made a watercolour of the portrait of Julian. The children were spellbound.

It reminded me of a beautiful story that the famous graphic designer and illustrator Milton Glaser told in an interview with his friend and fellow artist James McMullan.

“There was a very specific moment when I was about four or five years old. My cousin came in with a paper bag and said, ” You want to see a pigeon?” I thought he had one in the bag, but he didn´t. Right before my eyes, he just drew it on the paper bag. At that moment the idea of inventing an image – it was the first time it had ever occurred to me that you could invent something and give it life – became clear. That was the moment of decision for me, and I never deviated from that. The only thing I ever wanted to do was something involved with making images.”

I myself as a child had a similar experience that made me decide that I would become an artist. (I will talk about that occurrence next week). If the children who visited me will go into art I do not know. Perhaps, who knows…

By the way, Julian is an amazing guy! Don´t forget to visit his website.