Learning from the Masters
In 2003 I celebrated my Golden Anniversary with a variety show at the Royal Albert Hall. Some of my fondest memories of that show are of the three days I spent beforehand, working on the backdrop murals of Australia with expert scene painter Denise Slattery. The murals were 20 x 80 ft and we had an amazing piece of equipment for rolling the black gauzes up or down a little at a time as we worked on them. I’d love to have one of those great machines in my studio!
Not long after this, when I was coming to the end of the ‘Animal Hospital’ series, I was talking to Sarah Hargreaves at the BBC about my interest in impressionism and she suggested a series on the famous impressionists. We started with Van Gogh and the painting of the Church at Auvers and moved on to cover a range of amazing artists.
Before going to Amsterdam to film my self portrait in the style of Rembrandt, I visited the National Gallery in London to talk to an expert, David Bomford, about Rembrandt’s approach to portrait painting (David is now Acting Director at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles). He told me that the great master built up his painting from an initial dark-brown background on which he first painted an accurate sketch of the face in a darker fine line brush drawing. Then he would add the brilliant highlights and the intermediate tones would be scumbled in, using half-tone white paint. When he had the tonal painting finished as accurately as he could, only THEN would he start using actual flesh colours. It was all a revelation to me and I tried to follow his method as accurately as I could. People are always asking me why I look so miserable in the picture. The truth is you can’t hold a smile for two and a half hours while you paint. That fixed smile cracks and falls off your face onto the floor with a crash!
Sunflowers Inspired by Van Gough
Self-portrait Inspired by Van Gough
Self-portrait in the style of Rembrant
Rolf Harris Golden Anniversary
at the Royal Albert Hall
