The Story
Louise #7
The Story
The Louise series begins in the middle of a scene. I want the viewer to feel they have entered a film already underway, where the story is never fully explained. Louise shifts when you look at her. She hides because she wants to be found slowly.
In Louise #7, she turns towards us while the man’s face remains hidden beneath a cloth. Like all the Louises, the painting is conceived as a diptych. Its half-sized side panel will open the image sideways; I am still working on it. The second panel gives you a clue, but never the whole room. Leave too soon and Louise wins.
The Process
I begin with a black gesso ground, which dries quickly and lets me start painting sooner. I compose the scene in Sketch on my iPad and transfer its contours in light lines. For the portraits, I use a projector to keep the proportions true to my design. A thin underpainting establishes the main colours. I build up layers, using transparent zinc white to tie the colour areas together before adding fine detail. Drying can take hours or days; the pauses let me reflect and adjust. Repeating patterns in the clothing and background, and in the play of light and shadow, creates rhythm. The expressions are the most delicate and time-consuming part of the painting; getting them right demands patient control of the medium. I often use fat pastel sticks in the hair to give it extra depth and structure. In the video below, I illustrate part of my working process.