Painting Lizzy

(Originally posted on April 21, 2016)

Lizzy II, oil on canvas, 120 x 80cm, 2016

A year ago I drew a charcoal portrait of Lizzy; this time I was painting a full oil portrait. Generally, I find it helps to undertake a preliminary sketch or two before starting an oil portrait: it allows me to identify potential difficulties and get better ideas for composition. It also gives me a bit of time to get to know the sitter and choose a more suitable pose. That said, this time, it still took about two hours to come up with a pose I was happy with. Anyway, Lizzy is a calm, relaxed and very bright undergraduate in her second year at Durham University and that is what I tried to convey.