Portrait of my Father - Simon Taylor

This is an acrylic painting on board measuring 14 x 18 inches. Click the image to enlarge.

A Study in Light

I wanted to capture my father in surroundings which show his interests and character. Obviously, one of his loves is music, and piano in particular. My father was a photographer and teacher of photography, and he was always fascinated by light and contrast. I have many memories of him from my childhood holidays, camera in hand, pointing out the subtleties of light conditions and how he would use them in his photographs.

This portrait has two strong light sources, natural light from a window to the side, and the lamp behind.  This creates wonderful light, shadow and colour effects throughout the picture. The natural light creates a blueish tint, and the lamp a yellow glow. It was fascinating reproducing the effects of highlights and shadows created throughout the picture, and I particularly like the light shining through the shirt sleeve and the highlights and reflections on the piano.

This close up shows the work on the skin tones on the face. Note the warm colours used on the right hand side, and the difference to the left. Note also the detail work on the lamp the the glow created by use of contrast between the lamp-stand, shade supports and the brightness of the light. You can also see how the shade supports almost disappear towards the top of the lamp giving the impression of light saturation.

This is quite a well-worked painting, but there are only areas of detail - the face and the lamp are the focal point, and the hands are also fairly detailed. Most of the rest of the surface is suggested, but with a few layers of paint.