Thank you for your report!
We have received your report and it is currently under investigation by a forum moderator.
Inspiration from Artists Week 23: Tim Benson and Kelvin Okafor.
Welcome to the forum.
Here you can discuss all things art with like-minded artists, join regular painting challenges, ask questions, buy and sell art materials and much more.
Make sure you sign in or register to join the discussions.
Hang on Studio Wall
This is a Studio member-only feature!
Join our Studio membership and save your favourite Painters Online content, from gallery artwork to step-by-step guides, to your own online mood boards. Create your go-to place for inspiration and learning. Plus, members can also enjoy a range of exciting features including monthly art videos and a digital magazine library.
If you are already a Studio member, simply login to your account.
Not a Studio member? Why not try our free 30-day trial - no commitment, no credit card required
Message
Posted
Of course he may use lead white! I suspect that he does! (but decided not to volunteer that information to Joe Public for reasons that both of us are aware). Titanium white is much safer etc and stocked by all art retailers!
Lead white is wonderful to work with, hazardous in the wrong hands and if you hadn’t pointed me in the right direction, I would have struggled to find a supplier… I could see a potential issue arising if he promoted its use in his feature…
But I have my information from a recent feature of his in the A&I, maybe two or three months ago.
I must also confess that I much prefer his portraits, this style just works better somehow on a portrait!
Edited
by Alan Bickley
Posted
Alan, yes, understood!
At the moment, lead white is rather easier to obtain than it was a little while ago - our government's clumsy over-reaction to the EU ban on lead paint (which wasn't an outright ban) in the REACH regulations made many stockists afraid of offering it; now only niche ones do, but I wish that stockists like Jacksons and Cass Arts would show a bit of courage and bring it back.
Because - a) far too many brands of Titanium White also contain Zinc, which has proven long-term issues (eg, delamination from the ground), b) Titanium is otherwise a very good paint, but it doesn't have the body, the characteristics, of lead whites, and can be TOO bright-white when that's not desired; but c) yes: lead whites should not be used by the dilettante - someone just dipping into oil paint at the weekend, the type who leaves their brushes in the paint, don't clean up properly behind them, shape their brushes in their mouths (hallo, death!), and don't dispose of hazardous materials properly. That's not the same as the amateur - the dilettante is an amateur who can't be bothered: well, with hazardous materials you HAVE to be bothered - aware of fire-risks from solvents, as well as lung damage from solvents like genuine Turps; of possible lead poisoning - bothered, but not obsessed: there are more dangerous chemicals in your oven or carpet cleaner - but lead is a slow acting, insidious poison: not to be sanded and inhaled, not to be introduced to cuts and grazes. To pretend it's uniquely dangerous, however, is nonsense. Obviously, don't spoon it on your salad as a piquant appetizer, but don't be frightened away from using the white of the old masters - it was the plague that killed Titian, at the reputed age of 99: not his paint. More reliably, Michaelangelo is said to have lived to 89 - well, I'll settle for that.
Posted
Yes, I take your point and have to agree… in the right hands and a bit of common sense, there’s no, or shouldn’t be any issues using Lead white.
It’s what we all used at college many decades ago, Flake white in fact, and I don’t recall any issues whatsoever! But we were sensible and responsible students in the main…
I think the point I was making regarding Tim maybe using Lead white, is that it would possibly not be such a great idea to ‘promote’ a potentially hazardous substance to all and sundry.
Edited
by Alan Bickley
Posted
Hi everyone, here’s a quick introduction to Kelvin Okafor born in London 1/11/ 1985 . He studied Fine Art at Middlesex University. He specialises in pencil portraits. He started drawing a t a young age and recalls his fascination for drawing with pencil . Hisstyle is classed as hyper photo realism but some art critics have coined emotional realism for his techniques due to how he studies images and the emotions he feels within it. I came across his work in Artists and Illustrators at around the same time as seeing him work on a beautiful portrait of a burns victim on a tv programme and was blown away by what he can create from the humble pencil. 
Posted
This thread with artists chosen by Alan and Gillian gloriously shows the diversity in portraiture. These two artists are poles apart in technique, but I find both admirable. I too saw the TV show featuring Kelvin. Hugely impressive work. Between these two styles is a whole range of work being produced. This is what makes art, and art appreciation, such a wonderful, all absorbing, interest.
I find myself edging towards Tim Benson's style by preference, but have unreserved admiration for Kelvin's work.
Thank you Alan and Gillian.
Posted
An amazingly talented and dedicated artist. I also read the A&I article Gillian mentioned. He apparently takes hundreds of photos and spends often days studying his subject before starting work and then works for 14 or more hours a day on his drawings, getting by on just 4 hours sleep. These two below took 500 and 250 hours respectively to complete. He also uses a new range of graphite pencils (up to 14B) developed by Faber Castell at his suggestion which don’t produce as much shine as regular graphite pencils when photographed. His photorealistic style doesn’t hugely appeal to me (neither does Tim Benson’s very painterly style) but it’s interesting to read of his working methods. (I think we have another portrait artist, Jonathan Yeo, coming up later - his work is quite different again, often a mix of realism and semi -abstract.)
Edited
by Jenny Harris