A much younger Kate / Mary

 

It is interesting to see Kate as a 5 or 6 year old to compare with the 17 year old portraying Mary. It is her ability to look straight down the lens with that relaxed gaze, even at this early age, that I knew I could rely on that same look  to show the calm, humble, accepting Mary in the painting below.

I will show the two paintings together at the studio this weekend before they part and lead separate lives. ( Open Studios weekend at Courtyard Studios, Irvine) I hope to put together a storyboard of sorts, to show the development  from idea to the final image, via studies, photo shoots, conversations and inspirations.

It will be thrown together but hopefully it will deceive as a thoroughly considered project!

Mary in the Frame

 

The painting was delivered today all framed up. A framer was recommended to me that could offer a hand painted and gilded thing. It is a beauty and I think it sets off the picture really well. Built up and sanded down from layers of gesso, it has those nice rounded edges.

The timing of it is fortunate cause I have an Open Studio weekend coming on the 4th and 5th. So I will have it on show before it has to go to it’s new home. I could gladly hold on to this one!

Mary

The portrait of Mary is finished after a clean up session. I had to redo the halo. It never occurred to me that the faux gold I used would easily tarnish with exposure to the air. Real gold stays clean for all its life, so it is now real gold that is on the canvas. Thanks to my studio neighbour ,  a professional bookbinder, I was given the real stuff to remedy the schoolboy error.

I dropped the shoulders slightly to relax the figure. I refined the hands with a lighter layer, and just generally cleaned some dirty marks. All done!

Mary

 

I have nearly finished my portrait of Mary, just a final refinement of tones to the hands and it should be complete, save for a “once over” to make sure.

This one has taken me some time. There was a fair bit of toing and froing due to the nature of the commissioning process. Luckily, the client was sure of what he was asking for because any chance I could have had, I was for taking it to a more contemporary place. That will be for another time though. I have another two or three staged Mary’s all photographed and waiting for canvas.

One thing the client stipulated was that he just wanted a depiction of the girl from Galilee.

This will be heading for a church near home when it is framed in the next week or two. Fingers crossed it will go well with everyone involved.