Oil sketch on the Gallery

You might remember, though there's no reason why you should, that I had a commission to paint Jeremy Corbyn - though sadly not from life: and I'd not normally accept something like that, because I loathe painting portraits from photographs.  But this was a special request, and I can be got at like that.... So I did it, and when I'm as satisfied with it as I'm going to get, I'll show it on the Gallery.  In the meantime, I was quite interested to achieve a sketch of him, in oil - I don't know how I'd have managed, frankly, with Titanium White, but I have Cremnitz White - lead carbonate.  And while I make no claims at all for my portraiture skills, which I suspect are minimal, the lead white shaped itself to achieve a far more natural looking effect than the acrylics did; and it took only a matter of minutes to complete (so far as it is). It's on the Gallery now - I've used a VERY limited palette for the flesh tones, and he looks a bit grey in the gills; I know that parts of the face look more like me than Mr Corbyn.  But that's not what's technically interesting - the white of the hair didn't suffer the shock of acrylic Titanium white, it looked (I think) as if it might even have grown out of a human head; the contours of the face look more sculpted, and thus more real - at least to me. Bear in mind, it's a sketch - just done, finished in a few minutes, left alone.  Very little work on the eyes, no real attempt to capture the colour variations in the skin - it's the malleability of the paint that interested me, the sculptural qualities of the lead paint.   Could  I have done it, at least as quickly, with Titanium White?  I really don't think I could - it would have been too thick, too wet, too inclined to achieve mud (and it IS a bit muddy anyway).   Anyway, for better or for worse, there it is.  See what you think, and as always - let me down lightly: we are old - things snap and break.....