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Sep212020

“I wanted a powerful picture” Sylvia Mac on Love Disfigure

NewsBy Emmeline Downie21st September 2020

 

 

Emmeline Downie in conversation with Sylvia Mac (@love_disfigure)

Videography by Callum Hale-Thomson

‘Love Disfigure’ by Alastair Adams

Sep202020

‘Worlds End Lane’: A Quiet Battle Between Innocence and Evil

NewsBy Emmeline Downie20th September 2020

Upon initial viewing, Tomas Clayton’s “Worlds End Lane” is strikingly uncanny and enigmatic. It is not an innocuous scene. There is palpable tension and discomfort existing between the characters and the viewer. We are left forging imaginary relationships, trying to make sense of this odd triple portrait.   Despite the Edwardian dress, for Clayton this…

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Sep182020

“Baldness on a woman has become a symbol to the world that you have cancer”

NewsBy Emmeline Downie18th September 2020

Suzanne Gibbs on her painting ‘Facing It’ Interview by Emmeline Downie   ED: Hello, Suzanne. Thank you for agreeing to speak to me about your portrait ‘Facing It’. To begin, I am interested in the specific reason you chose to paint your sister in this way – is it to challenge preconceived ideas of female…

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Sep242020
2020 Royal Society of Portrait Painters Prize Winner

Prize Winners | Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition 2020

exhibition, NewsBy Liam Kilby24th September 2020

The Royal Society of Portrait Painters and Mall Galleries are delighted to announce the Prizes & Awards from the Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition 2020. Congratulations to all artists who have been awarded prizes by our generous prize givers. If you weren’t able to make the exhibition we hope that with videos, audio, images,…

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Aug282020
A portrait commissioned by the family who commented that it reveals 'The strength she doesn't see'

Join us as Jessica has her portrait painted

portrait commission, How to commission a portraitBy Annabel Elton28th August 2020

.  Commissioning a portrait is a special experience.  It is surprisingly easy and very enjoyable.      ‘Seeing a likeness of somebody you love so much, created for you…you have that to cherish…I love it! The portrait was commissioned by Jessica’s Mother, Anna who had been thinking about it for a while but was struggling…

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May262020
Andrew James demonstrating a self-portrait during lock-down

Portrait demonstrations by popular demand

Demonstrations and Workshops, ArtistsBy Annabel Elton26th May 2020

The opportunity to visit Andrew James and David Caldwell in their studios to see them demonstrate the painting of a self portrait was so popular and there were so many requests to see them again that we have put a links up for you.   Watch and learn about portrait painting as two of our…

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May72020

Invitation to create your own Self Portrait

Demonstrations and WorkshopsBy Annabel Elton7th May 2020

The self portrait features strongly in our Annual Exhibition Inspired by this, we invite you to join us. Take some time away from the screen, and sit in front of a mirror instead. Draw, paint, sculpt a likeness, or a representation of yourself and share your images with us @mallgalleries on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram using #MallGalleriesDrawsOurselves or email them to…

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May52020
Sam Dalby demonstrates portrait painting

Live Portrait Painting Demonstrations for you

Demonstrations and Workshops, For portrait artistsBy Annabel Elton5th May 2020

Two of our artist-members are giving you the opportunity to take an inside look at their portrait painting methods by demonstrating their skills and technique online from their studios.  See them at work live.

David Caldwell 7 May

 

Andrew James 20 May

 

 

Mar252020
Portraits on the Wall at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition

Annual Exhibition open online now

exhibition, NewsBy Annabel Elton25th March 2020

We are delighted to present the first part of our 2020 annual exhibition online. There will be new works added over the coming weeks until May.

The original May dates of the exhibition have not proved possible but we hope to reschedule. For updates please subscribe to our Newsletter or follow us on social media.

Feb202020
A portraiAn oil portrait of the actor Celia Imrie

PORTRAIT SEASON: PART ONE ‘THE SHOW GOES ON’

exhibitionBy Annabel Elton20th February 2020
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This portrait is part of @TimBensonart 2018 series This portrait is part of @TimBensonart 2018 series 'Visions of Zambia'. Tim travelled to Kitwe Hospital Eye Annexe in Northern Zambia to meet many of the children and adults who had this sight-saving surgery as well as the surgeons and other medical professionals who delivered it. This piece is of Raphael, a glaucoma patient. It's a fantastic and striking piece.
Look at this fantastic painting of Timpson by @ala Look at this fantastic painting of Timpson by @alastairadamsportraits . It's such a celebratory and esteemed portrait. If you would be interested in commissioning a similar piece, you can contact our head of commissions @AnnabelElton on enquiries@therp.co.uk or (UK) 020 7930 6844 Tell us what you think of this portrait below!
Today we are taking another look at this fatastic Today we are taking another look at this fatastic sketch from @emma_hopkins_artist 's series of paintings of Geri Morgan. It is such a captivating and wonderful piece. Emma says of this piece 'Geri Morgan is a 90 year old artist who has painted the female nude for over 60 years. In 2014 Geri Morgan asked if he could paint me...my reply- “Yes, but only if I can paint you." Tell us what you think of this piece below!
Look at this fantastic piece by @nealeworley ! It Look at this fantastic piece by @nealeworley ! It has so much depth to it the amount of texture in this piece is mesmerisning. 🙌 🙌 👏 If you have any questions or any interest in commissioning a painting simply contact @annabelelton , on 0207 968 0963 or enquiries@therp.co.uk
This week we are looking at portraits which celebr This week we are looking at portraits which celebrate success and ripe age. We spoke to @Antonywilliams1410 about his portrait of ‘Margaret at Ninety’. He explained that “Margaret was an artist who belonged to the same art society as I did, and would attend life drawing portrait classes at Chertsey Artists but when we were eventually evicted, she offered me an upstairs room in her rambling Georgian house as a studio. Margaret was an extraordinary character, who was full of endless anecdotes, and could talk all the way through a sitting without seeming to catch her breath. From 2000 - 2016 I painted half a dozen portraits of Margaret, and I believe that some of these are probably among the best portraits I've ever painted of someone of great age which I think is partly down to the fact that she engaged so readily with the process of sitting. The painting is egg tempera on a gesso panel, and took around six months to complete, although I didn’t work on it continuously, as I usually have four or five works on the go at any one time. Initially I spent a couple of sittings doing a pencil or charcoal drawing on paper, working directly from Margaret. I then transferred this drawing to the gesso panel, and did an underpainting using a limited palette. I did this without Margaret being present. Once the underpainting was complete I did some more sittings which would usually last around three hours at a time. I think with this portrait I wanted it to be tightly cropped so that the main focus was on Margaret's face. In general, I approach painting an older person in exactly the same way as I would a younger sitter, the only difference is the amount of detail you will find in an older face; it's a warts and all approach. I do hope though that the portrait will be more than the sum of its parts and that it will reveal something about the sitter, or about the human condition. I'm not really worried or concerned about people's reaction to the portrait, beyond the hope that they will appreciate it as a decent piece of work. I think Margaret liked the portrait, but I don't know if it was her preferred one of the six I painted of her."
Look at @miriam.escofet.artist 's fantastic portra Look at @miriam.escofet.artist 's fantastic portrait of Lorenzo. Comment below what this piece makes you think of 🙌 🙌 🙌 ! If you would like to commission a painting like this of your children or loved young ones, you can contact our head of commissions @AnnabelElton on enquiries@therp.co.uk or (UK) 020 7930 6844
@anthonyconnollyrp speaks to us about this portrai @anthonyconnollyrp speaks to us about this portrait is of his youngest daughter: "It was actually a byproduct of another piece that I was painting of the two of us, this one was just a study of her, it was more incidental than anything. I was supposed to be painting a portrait of her and myself looking in a mirror but she kept casting her eyes back, probably at the clock, it became a bit of a thing so I decided to do a portrait of that moment. With regard to the red beret, well it was just in the hat box in the house. I have ten children you see, and when you have a family that big there always tends to be a basket of hats somewhere. I think she was just wearing it because she wanted to- no particular reason. She was probably about nine when I painted this piece. Painting a portrait of a child feels quite poignant because they usually have this gentleness which is like a skin that they shed when they get older; as time passes on you never get that back. Having said this, it is quite taxing painting children because they find it difficult to sit still, they can usually only sit up to a point. Also their features are more difficult to capture a likeness of because things are still forming; nothing has been chiseled yet, there’s lots of softness and roundness. Sometimes you try to paint one child and end up with a painting that looks like a completely different child…The way that the brain distinguishes one person from another really is remarkable. She’s quite equivocal about the piece. I think it’s rather lovely… she might grow to like it. To be honest with you, I don’t really mind what anyone else thinks. I usually think that if I like it, someone else is bound to like it too.” And you could commission a portrait just like it... Our fantastic Head of Commissions, Annabel Elton is only a phone call or email away. Annabel will help you find the perfect artist and guide you through the process seamlessly. If you have any questions or any interest in commissioning a painting simply contact Annabel Elton, on 0207 968 0963 or enquiries@therp.co.uk !
This beautiful painting of 'Alisha' is part of @ti This beautiful painting of 'Alisha' is part of @timbensonart 's Visions of Zambia series. You can see the full series here: https://timbenson.co.uk/visions-of-zambia/ If you love this portrait as much as we do and want to commission a piece by Tim of your loved ones, you can contact our head of commissions @annabelelton on enquiries@therp.co.uk
As we continue to look at portraits of children th As we continue to look at portraits of children this week, this gorgeous conversation piece by Stephen Shankland is not one to miss! If you would like to commission a painting like this of your children or loved young ones, you can contact our head of commissions @AnnabelElton on enquiries@therp.co.uk or (UK) 020 7930 6844
As part of our series on portraits of children we As part of our series on portraits of children we spoke to @NealeWorley about this portrait of his daughter, Ilea. Neale told us that “This portrait came about like any other portrait, but unlike most, you can’t paint children for a long time, because they just can’t sit for that long.” He explained that “there are a lot more subtleties when painting children. It is much better to do it from life which was one of the nice things about painting Ilea because she was always around. Having said that, as I’ve mentioned, it’s very difficult to get children to sit for a long time so you do have to work from photographs when needed, in order to finish the project well! She is quite indifferent to this portrait, sometimes she gets a little embarrassed of them, especially the one that was featured in the BP award exhibition. I actually prefer that portrait, it has more emotional content; it wasn’t just about my daughter, it was about a child looking into the future. I used a lot of ivy in that piece; ivy is a mischievous plant that destroys any tree that it grows on and this is sort of symbolic of life. It feeds on you and in time destroys your innocence. You want there to be some emotional content with any picture, something that rings true and resonates so that when it goes into the world it becomes something in and of itself; portraits become separated from their artist and sitter, but as long as it retains some of the essence of that person it should evoke something in others. Colours definitely evoke different emotions. I think this piece was rooted in this shade of blue because she had been wearing this dress around and I thought it was a really eye catching shade. But more than this, it captured the feeling of the time. It’s quite a strong and simple colour. If this piece has been in red it would have been a very different kind of piece…” If you have any questions or any interest in commissioning a painting simply contact Annabel Elton, on 0207 968 0963 or enquiries@therp.co.uk !
“My husband blew me away with this portrait, as “My husband blew me away with this portrait, as well as one of our other daughter. They were a present for our 10th wedding anniversary in 2019. Getting a portrait done of the girls was something that had been on my mind but I had no idea how to even approach it, I had a complete mental block. I think my husband heard about the society through a work colleague. He’s very good at following leads. Annabel made the process so easy and smooth. She’s very clear and she's so good at discerning when, on seeing the right artists, it’s love at first sight. She’s personable and relaxed and made us feel really excited about the process. When we started trying to find the right artist we wanted something very pure and simple but also to capture something quite thought provoking. When Annabel showed us @frances_bell_paintings work we just knew she was the one and hearing that she was from Northumberland really cemented the choice. Northumberland is a place where we spend a lot of family holidays and it’s a really special place for the girls. We had a call with Frances and then she actually came to London for an exhibition so she came round for tea. She was so welcoming and such a lovely person, she made us feel very relaxed. The week before the portraits were to be painted, I hadn’t actually told the girls too much about them because of how difficult Covid had made it to plan ahead, I didn't want to get the girls too excited… Luckily we were able to go ahead with the plans and Frances was able to complete these gorgeous pieces which will hopefully hang on our home walls for years to come!” Read the full article by @ellielachs here: https://therp.co.uk/portraits-children-frances-bell/ If you have any questions or any interest in commissioning a painting simply contact Annabel Elton, on 0207 968 0963 or enquiries@therp.co.uk !
Portraits of children always offer an exciting and Portraits of children always offer an exciting and fresh perspective, particularly since portraiture is so often used to celebrate the later stages in life. This month, we’ve spoken to our society members about portraits they have done of children and what it’s like. The first of which was @frances_bell_paintings who recently completed two beautiful portraits of little sisters (this being one of them!) Frances explained: ‘I am very organic in my technique, when dealing with young people they are straight out of nature, they don't have any sort of private side or public face they are just as they appear.’ She went on to explain that when painting children they just sit there and sort of stare at you; they are hardly going to strike up a debate with you so the parents are really important in helping you to flesh out their character traits. It’s usually far more of a collaborative process than parents expect it to be. They have to help the child come through to you. In terms of maintaining a child’s attention and keeping them occupied, well, technology is a wonderful thing - Peppa Pig does wonders… I had this kind of absurd setup where I had the girls sitting on pedestal after pedestal so that they were up high enough for me to be able to stand and paint them. I had this flower pot that my mum had given to me years ago and I had an iPad balanced on that. There is always this wonderful moment when painting children when they are so engrossed in what they are doing that they forget that you are even there… Of course, when painting siblings there are those genealogical similarities, they definitely look similar, but their characters couldn’t be more different. In this case, the younger one (pictured above) is very gregarious and was flying off the walls; she was more of an open book with a lot of open exuberance. She is her mother’s doppelganger.’ To read more, you can find the full article by @ellielachs at https://therp.co.uk/portraits-children-frances-bell/ OR click the link in bio to find out more about commissioning a portrait/to contact Annabel Elton!
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2 days ago

Royal Society of Portrait Painters
This portrait is part of Tim Benson's 2018 series 'Visions of Zambia'. Tim travelled to Kitwe Hospital Eye Annexe in Northern Zambia to meet many of the children and adults who had this sight-saving surgery as well as the surgeons and other medical professionals who delivered it. This piece is of Raphael, a glaucoma patient. It's a fantastic and striking piece. ... See MoreSee Less

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