Tag: Matisse

Painterly faces

A minimalistic style piece inspired by Henri Matisse portraits

Want to know how to create your own prints in Matisse’s style?

Inspiration

These faces have been painted with Gouche using a paint brush. A minimalistic style piece inspired by Henri Matisse portraits.

This painting style is called Fauvism characterised by strong colours and fierce brushwork (Tate Museum).

“Fauvist art is characterised by its bold colours, textured brushwork and non-naturalistic depictions. In some ways, Fauvist artists emerged as an extension of the Impressionist artists working at the turn of the century.”

What I love about this style is that it really highlights the use of colour and the way in which you can still see the brush strokes. It illuminates the artist’s process as it looks unfinished, like a work in progress.

Interested in reading more about Fauvism see #source1 #source2 #source3

If you want to find out more about inky paintings see my post on Sumi Ink

Original art by Teresa Dang – Mahogany Girl

What you need for this exercise:

  • Pencil
  • Paper
  • Gouche (HIMI #link) or Watercolour paint (Koh-i-Nor #link)
  • Round paint brush size 6 (ROY MAC paint brush #link)

The process:

  1. Find photos of faces you want to paint.
  2. Look for shapes in the image that you can sketch out as larger shapes.
  3. Once pencil drawing is laid down, load up your paint brush with a good amount of paint.
  4. Use the lightest touch to line the pencil drawing. It may be useful to practise a few strokes before hand to get the feel of the paint brush and to see what lines you can achieve.
  5. Fill in the rest of the area of the painting with quick bold brush strokes, be guided by the image, looking for area of shade and light.
  6. After you scan the painting on to the computer you can use the Magic Wand Tool to remove the textured paper background.
  7. Use The Bucket Tool to fill in the light areas.
Original art by Teresa Dang – Green Girl

Some tips:

  • Trace trace trace so that you have a base image to experiment with. Use a window, glass door or the screen of an Ipad to illuminate the image so you can trace it.
  • Practise using your brush to create various styles of strokes so you get a feel of the different lines you can achieve with the brush.
  • Load up the brush with lots of water and pigment.

This style of painting would look lovely in a vibrant blue, enlarged and framed for home decor.

Good Luck with making your beautiful master pieces! Hope you are all having a fun holiday season with family and friends.

Teresa xx