MAY 5TH - MIKE SKIDMORE - PORTRAITS IN OILS
After some announcements in connection with the forthcoming F.L.A.I.R. exhibition in Worcester Square, the president introduced speaker and demonstrator Mike Skidmore, to give his presentation on 'Portraits in Oils'.
Mike started by describing his experiences at art college where he found himself out of step with the bias towards abstract forms of art and the negativity of the regular criticism sessions.
The result was that he gave up his art work and worked as a musician and as a radio presenter until, 12 years later, contact with portrait paintings by Rembrandt stimulated him to re-start his art career. Mike has developed his own portrait technique and had prepared his demonstration painting. He explained the importance of planning a painting and basing it on an accurate initial drawing. His drawing is made with a soft pencil and fixed with a glaze of white acrylic paint, if alterations are required the drawing can be reworked and re-glazed. Only when completely satisfied with the drawing does he do the next stage, which is to make the drawing permanent by drawing over it burnt umber acrylic paint. The demonstration portrait had reached this stage and had been completely over-painted with a glaze of burnt umber oil paint. The drawing was visible through the freshly applied glaze and Mike, using the drawing as a reference, proceeded to wipe out parts of the glaze with a dry cloth until he had created a tonal portrait.
As he worked, Mike talked about various aspects of his technique. Most faces have particular features that identify them and these must be accurately reproduced to get a good likeness.
The use of reference photographs was advocated since, realistically, few of us have the luxury of prolonged access to our portrait subject.
The portrait progressed with the development of the features and at this point, Mike advised that the artist should stop when he was satisfied with a particular phase of the painting and allow it to dry before starting the next phase. In this way, a painting that is 'going wrong' can always be wiped off to return to a satisfactory stage.
After responding to a number of questions, Mike concluded by describing the make up of his painting medium.
This had been a stimulating and informative presentation given with clarity and humour; it was much appreciated by the audience of members and visitors.
David Price
