I was inspired by Marlene Dumas’s portrait of ‘The Widow’, and how she recorded a meaningful moment. I like the vibrant colour palette used by fauvist expressionists and decided to use it for this study and the remaining exercises of this coursework. I chose a photo which I’d like to give credit to which I feel captures a momentary expression, impossible to achieve in an all day sitting. Again I wanted to work more with background mark-making as well as experiment with colour. I aimed for a likeness, but not a realist version of the subjects in the photo.

I did a light sketch in pencil and conte:

Then painted wet into wet using the fauvist palette:

When near the end, I outlined the figures in a dark value to distinguish them from the background.

I found it a bit hard to interpret the expression on the man’s face as looks down at the gorilla. Technical issues I encountered with the handling of my paint were the strong fumes from the linseed oil. I had until everyone was in bed so that I could begin working with open windows. may open the windows. After reviewing all the portraits thus far, I found this one required the most time, yet was more successful in conveying what I wanted it too. Perhaps before I was more focused on conveying a mood or getting proportions right.