Here is a study I recently made of a Madonna by the late Renaissance genius Bronzino. It is obviously unfinished in many parts (lips, veil etc), but my purpose was to practice skin lightness and facial composure.

I love Bronzino. Although widely revered, he is not usually included in the pantheon of  grand masters of the High Renaissance alongside Da Vinci or Michelangelo. He is most famous in popular culture for painting an allegory with Venus and Cupid snogging from which Terry Gilliam famously excised the foot which squashed the Monty Python titles. The painting itself is stunningly executed, except for the horribly contorted stance of cupid. I reckon he was twisted so that Bronzino could have him snogging his mother and showing off his pert bottom in the same composition – I know it sounds brazen, but you know what that lot were like.

I think Bronzino is one of the greatest painters of all time, for various reasons. The greatest wealth of his work is of course in Florence, but it is well worth checking out the three paintings by him in the National Gallery (including the licentious allegory, you’ll be glad to hear).

I have been busy working on this portrait of my friend Mr JRampling.

I have a few people lined up to paint but, as I have said before, if you would like to me to do your portrait then just email me or the like.

Today Patrick Mcgoohan passed away. You may recall my post on The Prisoner which was full of lurid descriptions of my admiration for Mcgoohan’s magnum opus. So I won’t go into any more detail here about that fantastic and bizarre series which (unlike any other I could name) really puts the vision into television.

Mcgoohan was as cool and suave as his name was not. It is hard to understand why he is not more of a cultural icon, I mean look at this photo:

Smouldering, mysterious, and complex as the Mona Lisa.

It is interesting that he also played and excelled in a role which could not have been more different from Number Six. I am referring to his role opposite Clint Eastwood as the Warden in Don Siegel’s Escape from Alcatraz. It is perhaps one of the greatest ‘bad guy’ performances ever. You get such a strong impression of  the dictatorial Warden’s overbearing malice that it totally saturates the atmosphere of the film. This amplifies the tension as Eastwood’s character endeavours with his daring plot to escape: he is not just escaping from a grotty building or from some grumpy guards, but from the asphyxiating evil of the Warden. Achieving so much (with few lines) is a remarkable feat of acting.

There is a scene in which Mcgoohan’s character discovers that one of the prisoners, a poor old guy called Doc, has painted a portrait of him. The Warden is less than flattered. Doc’s painting privileges are removed, eventually resulting in his grotesque self-mutilation. The actual painting which was produced for the film is excellent (typical of Don Siegel’s attention to detail).

You get the picture. Those eyes could freeze lava.

Mcgoohan must have sat for the portrait, of course. And I wonder what he tried to think of to give that impression of cruel dominance? May be he thought about the secret tyrant of The Prisoner, Number One. He must have spent a long time considering this Big Brother figure when writing the series, which was such a personal project to him.

I find this curious little moment in film-making history to be quite fascinating, especially considering that, in the climax of The Prisoner,  Number Six finds that he has to look within himself for his final battle with the architect of oppression. Perhaps there was more to  Mcgoohan’s choice to play The Warden than meets the eye.

I have uploaded nine sketches of faces here

Some look at me

Some have their attentions elsewhere

And some are asleep

Those are the three main categories.

Back again, after another wedding weekend. I have been to three weddings so far this Summer, and they all have been lots of fun. I have started to feel a bit like a wedding photographer with all the snapping I have been doing. I am considering dedicating a new section on my website to wedding photography, a much maligned field if you ask me. Coincidentally, I got chatting to a random on the tube recently when he took an interest in my SLR. It turns out that he was a wedding photographer, and did not have much to say about the subject beyond its financial ramifications. Nice enough chap though.

Anyhow, we shall see what comes of that in the future.

I have found a new medium for portraits:

Witness the bizarre and outlandish magic of Magna.Doodle! The subject is Mr Matt Dawson esq.

I really was not convinced at first. The device only lets you erase in a large sweep across the board. Someone round the dinner table suggested using the the back of a magnetic head-torch on the back of the magnadoodle like an eraser and it worked! Lovely jubbly.

I like the clean contrast of the black line against the light honeycomb. I like the fact that you have to rub out each picture before you can start another one. I like the fact that the board is properly known as a ‘magnetophoretic display’. I like the fact that it is the only drawing medium I have ever found which doesn’t let me cover everything in mess and shit.

I cannot do any more because the magnadoodle is safe in its home in the kitchen of my friends’ new house in Bristol. I might have to start scouring the charity shops for one. Or an etch-a-sketch.

New portrait added to the series 2 page:

For the rest of the series click on the thumbnail below:

Have a look around, why don’t you

New portrait up on the website:

I was quite satisfied with the rhythm of the colours, but I am still finding my way with this series.  I might develop the series into oil paintings or exploded designs.

The rest of this portrait series can be found here on the website.

I am still on the lookout for more subjects so, as ever, email me if you are interested in becoming extremely famous.

I have uploaded a new page of not one, not two, not three, not four, but six new portraits. Click the picture below for the page.

These pictures are drawn in pencil then scanned and coloured on computer. I am thinking of developing them into more purely geometrical images.

I am always looking for more subjects, so if you are interested drop me an email.

Now this is what I am talking about. Content! To hell with the nob gags. I am going to be getting more content on my website now. I have uploaded a photograph of my most recent self-portrait on the portraits page of my website which can be reached by clicking the image preview below. I cannot possibly write any more here. I am still bushed from the weekend festivities surrounding the engagement of my friends Ben and Gill.