Artist Insights: Peter Keegan

Peter Keegan is an oil painter and the co-host of the artwork recommendation podcast, Ask an Artist. On this movie, he shares his insights on portrait portray, color, his palette set-up, and the connection between the artist and their topic.

0:00 Introduction

0:40 “For me, it’s at all times been paint”

1:51 “I take pleasure in leaning into colors that aren’t discovered within the face in any respect”

2:27 “I made a decision to make my palette myself”

3:30 “Simplify the complexity of the face”

4:25 “Paint needs to be ok to not add any mediums to it”

4:47 “I like work which have an virtually an unfinished high quality”

5:13 “I’m working in easy, robust structural shapes”

6:23 “Have a look at a scene by way of its tonal values”

6:57 “I at all times paint with my glasses off”

8:08 “I like to see how my hand has moved throughout the canvas”

9:11 “Get to know the topic”

9:33 “I don’t attempt to get one thing 100% proper on the very starting”

10:41 “The connection between the artist and the sitter”

11:22 “Take a step again”

12:00 “Undertake the ‘telephone a pal’ method”

12:39 “Filbert brushes permit me to be exact but in addition gestural”

13:31 “I’ve what I name ‘visitor colors’”

14:01 “Artist high quality paints are stuffed with pleasure and richness”

14:32 “Give the face just a bit extra construction”

15:10 “Artwork has at all times been a part of me and what I do”

15:32 “Defining the darker components of the portrait”

16:14 “Work are by no means mounted or finite”

16:45 “I realised that artwork was one thing that I might have a profession in”

17:19 “Make each stroke depend”

18:18 “Going to a museum is like going to the docs”

18:55 “I take as a lot enjoyment in different folks’s work”

19:33 “The best way I maintain the comb is such an necessary factor”

20:19 “When issues don’t go based on plan I’m okay with that”

21:02 “As I transfer in the direction of lighter values I take advantage of the paint somewhat thicker”

21:54 “Self-portraiture is an excellent studying expertise”

23:00 “Range in an image will make it a lot extra compelling”

24:21 “Once I lean too closely on images the work look somewhat stifled”

24:50 “Knock again components of the portray which have change into too busy”

25:22 “Closing small strains and marks”

25:53 “Essentially the most thrilling a part of beginning any portray is the start”

27:52 Credit

Extract

I’ve at all times been very decided within the method and course that I’ve wished to take as an artist. For me, it’s at all times been paint. Paint is a really visceral, expressive medium that for me translated splendidly to the best way I wished to specific myself. I like there to be a component of exploration and the medium of oil paint is, I believe, probably the most versatile and thrilling medium to permit me to do this.

If I’m engaged on a portrait in a comparatively conventional vogue, I’ll are inclined to lean extra to the earth-based colors and pigments which have been round for hundreds of years. So colors like Yellow Ochre, Alizarin Crimson, Uncooked Umber, Ivory Black, and so forth.

I’ve what I name ‘visitor colors’, colors that are available in solely whether it is notably related to the scene that I’m making an attempt to create, or the sensation that I’m making an attempt to evoke. A few of my favorite visitor colors would come with Cadmium Orange, Amethyst, which is a beautiful fruity purple color, and Phthalocyanine Turquoise which is an excellent color which balances in opposition to the heat of pores and skin colors.

Self Portrait
Peter Keegan
Oil paint, 30 x 30 cm | 11.8 x 11.8 in

My favorite model of oil paint is Michael Harding, I like working with the excessive pigment and excessive density of the oils that Michael produces. Once I examine a portray that’s been produced with student-quality paint in comparison with skilled artist-quality paint you may see the distinction. The scholar high quality paint, though good and assured, has a slight gray tinge to it, whereas artist high quality paints sing. They’re stuffed with pleasure and richness and as a colourist that’s one thing I actually search for in my paints.

After making an attempt numerous different palettes, I made a decision to make one myself. I began off with a cardboard template, which ultimately become a picket palette. I’ll have it in my left hand, however I’m probably not holding it in any respect. It’s balanced fantastically on my arm, so I don’t get any cramp in my hand from bodily holding the palette.

Once I begin portray, I take into consideration the general design that I’m making an attempt to create. I have a look at a scene by way of its tonal values, how mild and darkish the points are. I begin off by asking the place the darkest darks are and the place the lightest lights are. Then I have a look at the colors; are there any key colors that I’m going to want to lean into that actually seize that scene earlier than me.

I take advantage of medium simply to skinny the paint within the preliminary blocking levels and washes, after which I attempt to work with the paint itself. I believe paint needs to be ok to not add any mediums to it. It ought to have a beautiful fluidity, it ought to really feel like toothpaste. It ought to be capable to transfer round however nonetheless have a great sense of physique to it.

Tad Mahlunge
Peter Keegan
Oil paint, 50 x 40 cm | 19.7 x 15.7 in

I at all times paint with my glasses off. I utilise my comparatively poor imaginative and prescient which simplifies the topic earlier than me. It may be extremely overwhelming if you’re working from life or {a photograph} and you’ve got all this data, so by taking off my glasses it takes away all that element and I’m working from a really fuzzy place to begin. However I at all times bear in mind to place my glasses again on on the finish to evaluate how the portray is wanting as a result of I’ve to recollect not everybody seems to be on the world in the identical manner as me!

My favorite brushes are Rosemary and Co brushes. I like a hog brush as a result of it exhibits the grain of the comb stroke. The bristles put the paint down but in addition scrape and transfer it. It leans into that sculptural high quality and exhibits how my hand has moved throughout the canvas. I like filbert brushes as a result of the ferrule form of pinches the comb flat however then it has a beautiful form of curve, so I can nonetheless be very exact with the marks but in addition very broad and really gestural. I maintain the comb proper on the backside, at a long way, which pushes me barely away. That helps me take within the portray as an entire and stops me moving into fuss and fiddling territory which we don’t need. We don’t need to kill the life and power of the portray.

For me a implausible portrait must not simply seem like the topic but it surely must really feel like them, it must seize one thing of them, that character and that persona and I really feel you may solely actually obtain that by attending to know the particular person you’re portray.

The style of portraiture has at all times been the principle curiosity for me in my artwork follow. I do different issues as effectively, however my predominant preoccupation, fascination, dare I say even obsession, is capturing that particular person, the character, the spirit of that person who’s sat in entrance of you. The connection between the artist and the sitter, I discover {that a} beguiling, thrilling, fascinating expertise which retains me motivated to at the present time.

Sharlin Jahan
Peter Keegan
Oil paint, 60 x 50 cm | 23.6 x 19.7 in

In case you’re not fairly positive what you’re doing then generally it’s a simple tendency to choose up the brushes and preserve fiddling. Take a step again and get somewhat little bit of bodily and emotional distance from it. Typically if you’re so concerned in a challenge you may’t see the wooden for the timber.

Different tips I take advantage of are a portray in a mirror, so that you’re one thing that’s very acquainted however you’re flipping it round. I usually undertake the ‘telephone a pal’ method, so I lean on folks whose opinion I significantly admire. One other useful factor is to {photograph} your portray or drawing. If the portray is wanting fairly robust on a small scale then I’ll go away it, it doesn’t want any fussing or engaged on.

I usually deal with going to a museum somewhat bit like going to the docs. When I’ve an issue that I’m not fairly positive about, there’s at all times the reply there earlier than me in among the nice work of the previous. I draw an infinite quantity of inspiration from artists, notably very painterly artists that actually perfected the alla prima manner of portray, working moist into moist.

Alla Prima Sketch
Peter Keegan
Oil paint, 50 x 40 cm | 19.7 x 15.7 in

I take as a lot inspiration as effectively from artists which are portray with us immediately, how they lean on color, texture, and mark making. That is the place social media is fantastic as a result of it opens up doorways and avenues to artists. It’s fantastic to see what they’re doing and have a look at how they’re depicting a sure high quality of sunshine or a sure facial function or a sure pores and skin color. I’m at all times like a magpie taking in all this data.

By way of how I method all points of portray, I attempt to method it as severely as doable, however on the similar time not in a severe manner. I’m fortunate that what I do is produce photos, and if issues go mistaken and there are work that don’t work that’s fantastic. It’s really a part of the artistic course of. It’s at all times attention-grabbing to find which issues work and which issues don’t, so when issues don’t go based on plan I’m okay with that. I tackle the chin and transfer on to the following piece.

Self-portraiture is an extremely fascinating topic inside portraiture, a lot in order that I paint a self-portrait yearly. I believe everybody ought to do it as a result of you will get quite a bit out of it. It’s a beautiful studying expertise. I painted a portrait with myself however surrounded by my spouse and my two younger kids. That self-portrait was about balancing life as an artist and in addition making an attempt to be a father on the similar time. The portray is sort of chaotic, very splashy, very messy and it has an unfinished look and high quality to it which form of sums up what my artistic follow was like at the moment.

Household Self Portrait
Peter Keegan
Oil paint, 90 x 120 cm | 35.4 x 47.2 in

For me after I lean too closely on images the work look somewhat stifled, They take away that connection and that resonance I had with the topic. I’m making an attempt to copy not simply what one thing seems to be like, however extra importantly what one thing appears like. If I can get that throughout on my work then I do know I’ve finished the job proper.

I discover ending and clarifying an image enormously troublesome. There are a couple of tips that I do to get round that. Typically I’ll signal a portray midway by way of the image execution, generally I really feel signing it’s a little bit too finite and finalised. The opposite trick is a psychological one; I attempt to not end any of my work anymore. I don’t end my work however I do what da Vinci mentioned, which is that you need to abandon your work. There’s a psychological shift there as a result of if you end one thing it’s like this rubber seal and you can’t contact it. Whereas when you abandon one thing you may step away from it and you may at all times return and return to it. So all my work are deserted. All of the sudden that burden of making an attempt to complete one thing is not there on my shoulders, and it turns into a way more versatile, relaxed course of.

To at the present time I nonetheless discover it totally magical and fascinating how one can take a clean canvas and a few squishy materials, transfer it round, and this optical phantasm of a face or a panorama begins popping from these positioned brush strokes. I nonetheless discover it enormously thrilling.

About Peter Keegan

Peter Keegan is knowledgeable artist dwelling and dealing in Buckinghamshire, UK, specialising in portraiture. Educated at Cardiff Faculty of Artwork and dealing in oils, Peter follows conventional methods however makes use of them in a option to depict the folks he meets in a contemporary and unique type. His goal in portraiture is to at all times create a portray or drawing that displays the topic’s likeness and persona, in addition to capturing these particular parts which make the topic actually “them”. Peter additionally paints and reveals determine work, native panorama and nonetheless life work.

Peter co-presents the podcast Ask an Artist: the podcast devoted to providing free recommendation and steering concerning the enterprise facet of being an artist.

Go to Peter’s web site

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