Portraits of Canadian Olympic Athletes on Display at John B. Aird Gallery

My portrait of past Olympic Gold Medal winner Donovan Bailey will be on view at The John Aird Gallery in Toronto, Ontario from March 2-26, 2010, along with many other portraits of Canadian Olympic Athletes.

The gallery, located at 900 Bay Street, is open Monday to Friday from 10 am to 6 pm.

There will be an opening reception on Thursday, March 4 from 6pm to 8pm, so please come join us in celebrating the accomplishments of the athletes and how they have been portrayed.

Donovan Bailey Portrait - Detail

Here are the hands and the bling - the secret to painting jewelery is to not spell everything out. Human vision is selective - in other words we focus on one thing and everything else is peripheral. Leaving something to the imagination of the viewer makes the painting more interesting and truly realistic, something photography is unable to accomplish.

Portrait of Donovan Bailey, Olympic Gold Medalist

This painting was designed to bring attention to the head - the value of the background was lowered and the collar of his shirt on our left (the lightest value mass) brings attention to the face. The suit was the darkest value mass. His hands and cuffs, which can steal the show if you are not careful, are muted in comparison to the head/collar. The watch and ring are represented by an economical number of brushstrokes. I eliminated a lot of bottles of liquor that were sitting behind him, to simplify the design. I didn't paint every wrinkle in his suit, just the ones that showed action.

I had to use photographic references for this painting, since I was only given a grand total of 15 minutes with Mr. Bailey, but I used all the knowledge I have gained in working from life to create the piece. This is definitely not just a painted copy of a photograph.

I also researched Mr. Bailey and read everything I could find written about him, in order to get a handle on his personality and current interests. With this information and what I learned from my initial meeting with him (when he viewed my portfolio) I felt like I had a pretty good sense of the man.

Monochrome Block In for Donovan Bailey Portrait

In this monochromatic sketch on my linen canvas, I have mapped out the values for the finished painting.

As mentioned in the previous post, I did a wipe out after an initial rough sketch to get to this point in the process.

Initial Sketch for painting of Donovan Bailey at the Spoke Club

Here is the full size sketch of Donovan Bailey, done on a couple of large sheets of 24x36 newsprint taped together.

Making a sketch allows me to get the drawing right and then move the piece of paper (to position of the figure) around the canvas to see what works best for my composition.

Since I have to work from photographic reference material for this piece, I don't have the luxury of life sittings and the freedom to just start painting with my subject right there in front of me, full size, to compare. Therefore, the information I have in a small photograph on my computer screen must be blown up to a life size image.

An easy way to transfer a large sketch like this to the painting support is to oil the surface slightly, brush on paint mixed with a little medium, lay the drawing on top and draw over your lines. Afterward, I use a rag to wipe out the lights and add some details in darker paint and to produce a massed block in of the composition.

It is important to keep in mind that this is a general guide for placement and I do not try to stay within the lines when painting!

Once the monochrome painting is dry, it is easy to maintain the planned notan (value pattern) and not go off track from the initial idea.