The Face of Homelessness Sloane Square

This is a another guy in my series of the "Face of Homelessness"- meeting Steve and getting to know his story of how he was homeless and has now been able to get accommodation is a very uplifting one!
He sells the Big Issue at Sloane Square and I have sketched him on a number of occasions.

In this painting, I wanted to capture to look in his eyes. It's the main thing that brings out his character as a very genuine chap.  As with the other posts in this series, I have worked with The Zorn Palette-which consists of Titanium White, Yellow Orche, Cadmium Red and Ivory Black.

I have worked on this piece in one sitting in Alla Prima and I took some stage shots during the process. These stage shots are definitely not a step by step process but they are just stages at which the painting developed.

It was hard getting the right colours of this painting with my camera and if I am able to get a better picture a later date, I will surely adjust the one below.

The Face of Homelessness Sloane Square, Oil on board, 12" x 16", 2012

Sketch of Steve

Adebanji sketching Steve

Steve with the sketch

Stage 1- Here I have toned the canvas with a light mixture of yellow orche and black, and I do a bit of plotting lines to help with the positioning of the portrait. The canvas has been divided into four parts with diagonals in each rectangle.

Stage 2- I start the sketch with the swift use of a mongoose brush dipped into paint and Liquin to help it dry fast.  All those sketchy arrows just show the direction I'll be painting the background strokes in, to lead the viewers eye into the centre of interest-"his eyes"

Stage 3- Here I start using the shape by shape method of "inside out"-starting from one place inside the face and gradually moving out.

Stage 4- The face was almost complete at this stage and I began to have a sense of the whole piece at this stage

Stage 5- With the face completed, I gradually move to the background  to see how it works with the face and I'm quite pleased.

Stage 6-I continue with the background on the left following the directions,  I had plotted earlier in the preliminary sketch

Stage 7- This is the final stage where I take stock, I think  I got a bit of the anatomy wrong on the right side of his cheek, but after a few struggles which remained unresolved, I had to leave it to a later date.

 SPECIAL QUOTE
"Very early in life, I fell in love with the landscape of the human face, where all the emotional states of life are to be found, and that affair has not faltered"-Burton Silverman

The Face of Homelessness, Piccadilly

This is a guy I did a drawing of in my Big Issue Series and I decided to add him to the Face of Homelessness because of his amazing beard-you can hardly see his mouth and it really conceals his identity.
I saw him recently at St James Street and his beard was even longer, I hope to approach him to make a sketch of him with a longer version of his beard.

The Face of Homelessness, Piccadilly, 12" x 12", Oil on Board, 2012

I did take some stage shots of this one and I also have the drawing I did of him in the Big Issue Series.

This is a drawing I did of him in 2011, It was done in oil based pencils on gessoed card. the gessoed pencils I have used are black and sanguine.

These stages are not step by step procedures of doing this kind of painting, but they are just shots at different stages while the painting is in progress. I think there's so much that happens during the process of a painting that it would be hard to break it down into a step by step procedure.

Again using the Anders Zorn palette, I first plot the position I'll like the portrait to be on the canvas by using squares and diagonals.

I plan to give this portrait a bit of "edginess" by placing the face totally off the centre.  I feel his face has a feel of  concealed identity, so I think this will enhance the idea. I sketch with a mixture of black and red on a gessoed board that has a tint of light brownish orange to it.

The full sketch is now complete, I am quite pleased with the position.

Here, I start applying paint, I actually started from the left eye and I moved out  to the rest of the face moving to the right. It is the shape by shape method of just filling in each space with thick colour, this colour is not diluted with any medium.

Moving to the right, I add some of the suggestion of the background  and keep the paint thick and workable , I constantly make sure every stroke I make is a drawing stroke to help in the accuracy of the piece.

I really loved painting his hair and moving on to the rest of the his clothes, I left the best part to last, that was  his beard.. These pictures just show the way I work and how it all comes together just through little shapes of colour. It's the INSIDE- OUT Technique.

SPECIAL QUOTE

"....Skill has become a commodity, a very affordable commodity, and possibly, as a consequence, has been devalued. This may be in part the reason why we still turn to the unique, hand-crafted portrait, because in its very form, it remains a metaphor for the uniqueness of the individual depicted. "-Anthony Connolly, Painting Portraits

The Face of Homelessness, Bath

Face of Homelessness, Bath, Oil on Board, 12" x 12", 2012

This post mainly features on my keen interest in depicting interesting faces. All year I have been working on this project of homeless peoples faces and I'll be sharing the ideas behind this and sometimes where I can, I'll document some stage by stage thoughts that go through my head while working on them.

Same Model- sat for me for my Big Issue Series 9

I meet these people while commuting or walking down the street. I'm always armed with my sketchbook and  pencils and my camera, if they allow me a photograph or two. Once I fall in love with a face, that's it! I'll just find every way possible to convince them I need to draw, sketch or paint them.  We get talking and share some of our interests while the sketching or photographing goes on. This particular guy I painted here is called Rodney, I met him in Bath.

That's Him with the Big Issue Sketch

For the whole of this project I adopted the Zorn Palette, which consists of 4 colours. Titanium White, Cadmium Red, Yellow Orche and Ivory Black. These three colours are basically used as 3 primaries. The Cadmium Red is RED, The Yellow Orche is YELLOW, while the Black acts as the BLUE. Once I have this thought it mind, it's easy to mix secondaries and even tertiary colours.

STAGE 1-The Sketch is done in conte, I used 2 colours sepia and black-the sketch is not that accurate but it givers a sense of the  proportion and composition of the head on the square surface.

STAGE 2-The method I embark on here is called-"Inside Out"- Where I just start from a particular place INSIDE the face, this time it was with one of the eyes. From that point I just paint shape by shape till I get to all the OUTSIDE features. So its starting from the INSIDE and moving to the OUTSIDE.

STAGE 3-I plan to move upwards and here I  have almost covered the whole surface here, introducing a dark background to  bring out his  light toned  face.

STAGE 4-Here I start moving downwards, trying my best to adjust errors as I go along. This method demands full concentration and good drawing skills but the slower one goes the better.

STAGE 5-At this stage I have only one shape left and that's why this method is quite exciting as one is able to  watch the picture come to life from little brush stroke applications,

STAGE 6-Finally I have all the surface covered and it's all done wet  on wet , with  no underpainting. 

I really love weathered faces, faces that have seen life, I love the faces that tell stories and while talking to these guys, it's always a great opportunity to listen to what they have been through!

SPECIAL QUOTE

"One is never fully satisfied with the portrait of a person one knows"-Johann Wolfang Von Goethe

BIG ISSUE SERIES XVIII

This is a continuation of my series of Big Issue Sellers in London and Bath. This particular seller had one of the faces that is a dream to draw for portrait lovers. You could take one look at him and he'd take your artistic breath away! The guys that sell these Big Issue Magazines are homeless but this gives them something to gain extra cash.

This was done on a museum mount board prepared with gesso. I drew with pastels and coloured pencils.



Big Issue Seller XVIII, 8" x 10", Mixed media, 2011

My main goal was capture that mixed look of hope and uncertainty in his eyes.

Special Quote
"I had a teacher years ago(George Bridgeman)who made us draw hundreds of skulls in all positions. I felt he was overdoing it at the time but now I realize what a wonderful lesson he taught us. Whenever I draw a head, I instinctively feel the skull structure beneath."- Norman Rockwell on the Importance of Head Structure.

BIG ISSUE SELLERS XVI and XVII

These two sellers are from Poland, they couldn't speak much English but they let me know their names and they agreed for me to sketch them. Andrey has been in the country for about 3 years and Roman has been in the country for 5 years. Roman has been selling the Big Issue for 3 years and its been great for him. Andrey stands up holding crutches in one hand, so it was quite hard sketching him and unfortunately I pulled out a H pencil and that made things really worse, because the harder pencils scratch against the paper and don't favour quick sketching where firsthand bold statements are needed. I didn't have time to change pencils because once they are aware sketching takes place, they are a little tense and one just needs to be fast. It is like this for those standing but for those sitting it is far more easier because they are already in a relaxed mood. That's why I enjoyed No 17, I actually spent more time sketching him as he was such a delightful person too, he kept calling me Picasso!

It is also amazing the comments I hear from people around, while sketching. Some look at me with pity and say, poor chap-he has got great talent but.....other say look at him, this is natural talent, you don't learn this in art schools. Some look at me, and say, you actually know what you are doing. Some take pictures, some record videos... it's all buzzing. I just get on with the business at hand!

Enjoy the sketches and pictures!




Roman, No 17 XVII




No 17, XVII with the sketch




Andrey, No 16 XVI




No 16, XVI with the sketch

BIG ISSUE SERIES XIII, XIV, XV

These are three of my latest Big Issue Vendors.

I'll let the sketches and pictures do the talking!

They had fascinating stories too!

BIG ISSUE SERIES XII

I met Nick On Villiers Street when coming out of Embankment Station. He became my 12th disciple in the Big Issue Series.

BIG ISSUE SERIES VIII, IX, X, XI

All the Big Issue Vendors in this post were done in the City of Bath. One thing I observed about the Difference between London and Bath is that the public tend to respond better and almost all the Vendors at Bath wear a sort of uniform top.

They were all great characters with great stories too!

Enjoy!

LUKE



CHRIS



RONEY





MIKE