GUESS WHO by dennis roberts

Enoch Powell? Even if it is not, it's a great portrait.

Saw him straight away. Great likeness. But only some of us over a certain age will see it.

Yes Thea Sylvia you got it I thought I could have put a cryptic clue like FAMOUS FOR THE FLOW OF RED speech .That might be fun .Dyou know the speech .

An excellent portrait Dennis. Well done.

Thanks kal very much glad u like it .

No mistaking who this is Dennis, excellent!

My dad always said he was going to be right

Not an easy man to forget - an oddly quirky individual, very clever, very resilient, with a touch of something not quite rational. From an artistic point of view, looking at it makes you wonder exactly what it is - indeed is there just one single thing - that makes a portrait instantly recognizable: the exact shape of the mouth isn't obvious, hidden as it is anyway under the shadow of the military moustache, the eyes - generally supposed to be the give-away - are giving nothing away at all. And yet - it's Powell; unmistakably. Well, if I knew the answer to that I'd be a portraitist .... I wonder what YOU think?

Nailed it as usual dennis.

Smashing Dennis!

Very good!

Thankyou guys as ever comments very much appreciated, Robert i think its the big shapes that define the person and the detail playing a secondary role . I tend to look for big shapes and then add eyes and so on later it tends to work better for me that way .

Great likness of Enoch.

Thankyou Jennifer . Glad you like it .it was just a bit of fun.really joining in with the others i cant do upside down one liners though so i did this .

Dennis - for what it's worth, because I do very few portraits, I think you're right; the big shapes, plus the right proportions for those shapes. In the past I've found myself obsessively measuring the distance between the eyes, length of the nose, ear, and mouth, and for all I know I've got those right but the result just didn't work at all. This is where the instructional manuals I used to read, and have now laid aside with a light laugh at their futility, lead people up the garden path I think: they deal too much with the fine detail and not enough with the major shapes. It's true with buildings, with machines, with landscape - get the big shapes right and the detail will take care of itself: why should it NOT be true of portraiture? (I'll try again, and find out!)

Yes Robert i can remember years ago painstakingly working away at portraits hut they never looked quite right that's because the big shapes were wrong , its fine to use a straight edge or perhaps draw a few lines so you get the angles ok . Another tip bring the whole painting along together avoid working too much in one area then you can make adjustments as you go . And lastly by bringing it along as a whole you can see more easily when to stop before you end up with a boring looking photographic. There i think that's good advice , now i need to follow it myself ,lol nice talking to you Robert hope its useful for you.

Oh Robert try a few side profiles they are easier like my painting a face in shadow , and look for attractive lighting so there's some shadow that helps to give structure tu the head . Avoid bright washed out flat lighting . Like the masterly Rembrandt , he used lighting to great effect.