James F. McKinley, dean from 1931-1959

 



As he was the longest serving dean, many photographs of McKinley exist; several of them have found their way online. The reference for this study was taken in 1931, at the beginning of his tenure. It shows an earnest and somewhat self-conscious young man, in a white summer suit and the detachable shirt collar that at the time was still quite common for professional dress. Of the three references I have (one taken a couple of years later, sporting a mustache, a mortarboard and a benevolent smile, and a serious if not morose official photo probably taken in the 50s) it is this that I will paint the final portrait from. It is so relatable, so accessible. And of the 5 or 6 studies of the deans I have made so far, this is my favorite.  

I used a Caran d'ache pastel pencil (sanguine) for the mid-tones of the face, and two shades of Cretacolor sepia for the shadows. This study is different from the previous ones in the sparing use I made of white : just at the tip of the nose and gently over the bridge; above the upper lip, at the highlights in the hair, chin and throat, as well as the edges of the shirt and suit color. Just enough to suggest the points of reflected light.  The lighter areas of the face are actually just the paper showing through. Plenty of delicate strokes and blending on this one. But while the drawing enabled me to learn this charming young man's features, it hasn't quite prepared me for the task of rendering him in oils, with a brush, in a looser and more painterly style. We'll see how the oil studies turn out later.  


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rev. Irving Channon, SU Divinity School dean from 1921-1931

Image
Irving Monroe Channon was born in 1862 in Durant, Iowa. He received his education at Griswold College (B.A., 1887) and at Oberlin College (M.A.). He was conferred a B.D. degree by Oberlin Theological Seminary in 1890. He was ordained as a minister of the Congregational Church in 1888. Channon and his wife Mary started their work under the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in 1893 and served as missionaries of the Congregational Christian Churches for 40 years. This article by Ligaya Magbanua Simpkins outlines how the Channons laid the groundwork for what is now the Silliman University Divinity School.  I used the tiny photo in the Magbanua-Simpkins article as reference. The Divinity School had sent me a larger version of the same photo, but it had been distorted by the angle of the camera. I relied on a soft pastel pencil (Caran d'Ache) in sanguine for the most part, then added shadows with Cretacolor dark sepia and light sepia pencils, and highlights with
Read more

Paul T. Lauby, Th. D, dean from 1961-1965

Image
Dr. Paul T. Lauby served as dean of the S.U. Divinity School from 1961-1965, and was a member of the faculty before then. He was Silliman's vice president for academic affairs in the late 60s, and then general secretary of the United Board of Christian Higher Education in Asia  from 1970 to 1989.   He was the minister who married my parents, and in March or April 1979, he and his wife Edna hosted us at their home in Montclair, New Jersey. My memories of that visit are of course a child's -- a quiet feeling of joy and contentment as we walked through the spring woods, sleeping under the sloping eaves of a house more than a hundred years old, a wardrobe filled with intriguing, fur-collared coats from decades past, a beagle called Nugget. They were extremely nice people, I remember that. A happy weekend, and for many years after that those short moments on that walk in which I wandered off alone, (yet always keeping the adults in sight) over the wet leaves, peering at the pale gro
Read more

Preliminary drawings - my tools

Image
 I won't start the oil paintings until March or April, when it's warm enough to open a window and air out my workspace. I look forward to June, when I can actually work outdoors without freezing. At present, the snow is coming down in curtains and we're looking at minus 5 degree nights this week, or worse. It's a time for drawing, getting to know my subjects thoroughly before I apply the first stroke of paint. Probably my favorite among my drawing tools is the Creativo set from Cretacolor, with its selection of hard (carre) pastels in traditional colors (sanguine, sepia, white, black). It's incredibly useful for limited-palette or monochromatic drawing. I decided to use the carre pastels to make a series of 30x40 cm studies of the deans, occasionally picking up one of the white pencils in the set for gentler, more subtle strokes.  I pulled out five more pastel pencils from my collection: a Caran d'ache Sanguine, a Faber Castell Pitt Caput Mortuum, and a green a
Read more