Governor's Portrait Unveiling

[Mark Lovett]

Michele,
Amazing work. Congratulations. Very interesting approach. I have seen Nelson Shanks paint several times but never have I seen him paint as you did....meaning a highly detailed sketch that is painted a little at a time until almost finished before moving to the next area. In fact, what I got from his teaching was the opposite. Im not sure if he changed his style or I was just unaware that he was painting this way.

Did your client sit and pose live at all?

Also, I'm not sure if you are using much texture or not but it appears that you are not and that visible brush strokes are minimal. Do you mind telling me what type, size etc.. brushes you are using? And your medium?

Also, between sessions, when the paint dries and goes flat in areas, do you use retouch varnish or something to make the values easier to see?

Again congratulations on an incredible painting.
Mark

[Michele Rushworth]

Hi Mark,

To answer your questions: no, the Governor's schedule did not allow for live sittings. I did two photo sessions with him and two photo sessions with his staff members prior to that, standing in for him, to test various lighting and posing options.

There is no surface texture on the painting and I don't use any medium -- just Gamblin or Winsor Newton paint straight out of the tube.

When dark areas get dull and sunken in, I brush on a 50/50 mixture of linseed oil/odorless mineral spirits to "oil out" those places. Then I wipe most of it off.

For the face, hands and the seal on the chair I used a tiny synthetic brush that is about 1/16th of an inch wide and about 1/3 of an inch long. For larger, simpler areas I used larger sizes, all in filbert shapes and mostly synthetics.

Hope that helps!

[Mark Lovett]

Originally Posted by Michele Rushworth

Hi Mark,

To answer your questions: no, the Governor's schedule did not allow for live sittings. I did two photo sessions with him and two photo sessions with his staff members prior to that, standing in for him, to test various lighting and posing options.

There is no surface texture on the painting and I don't use any medium -- just Gamblin or Winsor Newton paint straight out of the tube.

When dark areas get dull and sunken in, I brush on a 50/50 mixture of linseed oil/odorless mineral spirits to "oil out" those places. Then I wipe most of it off.

For the face, hands and the seal on the chair I used a tiny synthetic brush that is about 1/16th of an inch wide and about 1/3 of an inch long. For larger, simpler areas I used larger sizes, all in filbert shapes and mostly synthetics.

Hope that helps!

Thanks for your reply Michele. Very interesting and helpful. .It's amazing that you use such small brushes. It must take a very long time to paint in this method although I guess you dont have to rework areas much. Did I understand you correctly that you worked on this painting for about a year?? And what is the size of it?
Also, why do you prefer synthetics over sables?
Thanks,
Mark

[Michele Rushworth]

The painting itself took about two months, though from the start of the planning, taking the photos, creating the painting, getting the framing done, and scheduling the unveiling event it was over a year.

The painting is 30 x 43".

I like synthetics over sables because they're springier, hold up better and cost less.

[Mark Lovett]

Michele,
You have obviously developed a very successful system of producing high quality portraits. I hope I'm not driving you crazy with questions. Im just trying to learn from the best. To get such a high degree of accuracy I suppose there has to be very little guess work. When forced to work with photos, such as in this portrait, how do you get such an accurate drawing to the canvas from which to paint into? Do you prefer working from printed photos or computer monitor (if monitor..what size do you use?) or projector...what seems to be working so well for you?
Thanks,
Mark

[Michele Rushworth]

I do a lot of measuring to get things in the right place. I don't use a monitor as that presents me with colors and values I can't possibly replicate in paint (a monitor has a much different "color gamut", as they say, than paint does.) I work from printed photos. One of the biggest challenges I have is getting the best printed photos I can. Otherwise the painted product won't turn out right.