11/08/08

Today I am going to make a start on a new portrait. It will be of the daughter of a violin-playing friend, the identity of whom must remain secret as the painting is to be a present and a surprise for the violinist's father. I have been given carte blanche to do it as I please, whatever size I like, as it will be hung in a large converted warehouse somewhere in London's Docklands, and therefore I imagine on large white walls. Because the girl (V.) is twelve years old I am drawn to the idea of representing her in a Renaissance manner -- like Leonardo's "Lady with an Ermine" (left) perhaps. Or the Mona Lisa, as she does resemble her in fact. We'll see. One could equally paint her in the style of a Rineke Dijkstra photograph. The first thing to do is to prepare my shed/studio for action and then the canvas. I have a beautiful fine linen one measuring 32"x32", therefore larger than "Lady" which is 54.8cm x 40.3cm, but nothing like as big as the Dijkstra prints I've seen in the flesh.
I'll make some preliminary drawings from the set of photographs I took some months ago too while the undercoat dries...
Action.