Portrait 23c by Duncan Thomas

Another great portrait Duncan, I really like your style. Nice to see the progress of the painting. Interesting to know that you use acrylic underpaintng, I use it for oils but never thought to use it for pastels so I have to think about it

You are too kind, Petra. 23b is an object lesson in how to mess up a promising portrait. Pity 23b has disappeared (apart from the photo). I used acrylic simply because I thought it would give more 'body' than a waterclour wash. I wanted to see if I could get the tonal values right before I started with the pastels. But, as you see, the process of applying pastels was, in the end, a rather destructive one (in that tonal sense). I am still experimenting like mad. There is something about my quicker, cruder pastel sketches that I really wish I could keep in a more 'finished' work. I revert so easily into drawing (lines,lines, lines!!) and whilst the paintings might, in a draughtsmanship sense, become more 'accomplished', I think they lose something as 'art', if you know what I mean. I did a self-portrait in January which makes the point: it doesn't look much like me, but is really very lively. I might just put it on POL this morning.

Interesting to see the development of this work - I think that you've just done that crucial little bit too much, but I'm the last person on the planet to lecture anyone else about that... It's still a satisfying and powerful portrait; the only thing about it is that the extremely powerful red draws the eye away from the face, which is where it ought to go - the subject has fair hair and complexion; dark complexions and hair can work well with strong reds, but I think the competition between the two in this case is a bit distracting. It's still b. good, though!