Posthumous commission

[Patricia Joyce]

You might remember my portrait drawing of Mother St. George (in June under Unveilings). The congregation was considering my doing a larger, more formal portrait for the opening of the new CSJ center called River's Edge, A Place for Reflection and Action.

Mother St. George founded the CSJ's in Cleve. in 1875. However, Mother Theresa was the mother superior in 1905 when the current convent was constructed. And the new River's Edge will be completed and formally opened in April 2005, at the 100th anniversary. Mother Theresa is, ahem, a more pleasing image to reflect the ideals of this center.

To make a long story short, I have been commissioned to do a formal portrait of Mother Theresa, which will be unveiled at the grand opening of the River's Edge on April 1st!! I feel very fortunate to have such enthusiastic support from my bosses. They have also offered me a "gallery wall" for my portraits in the new center.

Here is the image, which is obviously B&W. Their habit was also black and white. Very harsh. I will definitely make her face the focal point with focused edges and try to soften the habit. Does anyone know of any famous artists who painted nuns?! Looking for inspiration!!

[Julie Deane]

Hi Patricia -

Congratulations on your new project! Nice face, well-lit, with lovely features.

Not much in the way of nuns, but here are a few links to people wearing severe black and white clothing:

http://www.abcgallery.com/V/velazquez/velazquez10.html

http://www.abcgallery.com/R/rembrandt/rembrandt6.html

http://www.abcgallery.com/R/repin/repin24.html

[Mike McCarty]

Here is Herman Doomer by Rembrandt.

[Sharon Knettell]

There is an absolutely exquisite picture of a nun by Nicholas de Largilliere, "Elizabeth Throckmorton" at the National Gallery of Art in Washinton D.C.

It is one of my all times favorite painting. I was lucky enough to see it in person last year on a visit to the Capital.

[Mike McCarty]

If I were asked to do this I'd do it in gray scale oil paint on canvas.

[Patricia Joyce]

Thanks for the references, Julie, Mike and Sharon.

After viewing Rembrandt's Mother I felt relieved to have the image I have to work with- yikes!!

I am definitely going to give this a shot in oils since I have until the end of March to complete. I was thinking of a monochromatic painting but making the black a chromatic black rather than black, black??

And then I saw the Elizabeth Throckmorton by Nicholas deLaigilliere - Wow, Sharon, it must be georgious to view in person. I found some great images on the web, posting one of the closeups below for everyone else to enjoy.

I'm feeling inspired!!

[Mike McCarty]

Nothing beats oil paint. I did one of these a year or so ago and really enjoyed it. It went so quickly, only values to worry about, not all the complication of color. I had it hung in my retail space for a while and it had much more of an visual impact than I thought it would. Black, white and linseed oil, that was all I used (linseed oil is all I ever use). And, it certainly gives more of a sense of prominence than graphite, in my opinion.

I would recommend this to anyone thinking about making the move to oil paints.

[Patricia Joyce]

Mike,
What black did you use?? And what white??

[Mike McCarty]

As I recall, I just used what I had in my box, which was Ivory Black and Titanium White.

I didn't research it at all. Others may offer more reasoned choices. I do recall that I had no complaint with the choices.

[Debra Norton]

Patricia,
When we paint in black and white at school we use cremnitz white (at least some of us do) and mix up our black with equal mixtures of ivory black and raw umber. That gives a warmer mixture than ivory black alone. Ivory black alone will give a blue tint to it. We mix and tube the black ahead of time. If you want I can email you a picture painted with this combo and you can see how it looks.