Reading, watercolour, 291⁄2x371⁄2in (75x95cm)
This is not an article about portraiture although the elements in drawing up the basic shape of the face are the same. A painting of a face should capture the personality or essence of the subject, something of that person’s uniqueness.
Today, with the immediacy of photography, there can be too much pressure on portrait artists for a face painting to be photorealistic. When this happens, photography will always overpower art – and this applies to other subjects as well. Can you really paint that sunset to make it look as beautiful as it is? You can try but you will never get it to look as good as it does in a photo. But your artistic effort will give you a representation of it. It’s the same with face painting. When you aim to paint a representation of the face without it having to be an identical copy, the pressure eases and the face painting will look similar to the person but with quirks, and much more interesting. Painting watercolour portraits in a life-class situation in one session is difficult as there is no time for immediate correction – see Kwame (right).