Tag: Oil painting

The Art of The Gaze

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Struggling with portraits? Take a masterclass with someone who truly knows their craft.

I recently joined a series of four-hour workshops with Adelaide-based artist Ignacio Rojas, whose teaching on the fundamentals of portraiture was both grounding and inspiring. The first session focused entirely on black and white, a perfect place to return to the essentials of tonal composition. The second explored portrait construction using just four colours — white, yellow ochre, cadmium red, and black.

Armed with what I learned from these two masterclasses (and my investment of time and money), I decided it was time to put the lessons into practice. After all, there’s little point in taking a masterclass if you don’t follow through. Practice doesn’t make perfect — but it does make you better. I hope the portraits I’ve painted since then show that growth.

I’ve shared them below in the order they were painted, so you can see the progression for yourself.

During Ignacio’s classes, we worked from photographs. Later, I came across a stunning book of portraits by Steve McCurry. His photographs, particularly of children, are deeply engaging because of one thing: the gaze. Each subject looks directly into the camera, meeting you, the viewer, with an intensity that captures something profoundly human.

That directness is, for me, the essence of portraiture. When the subject’s eyes meet yours, something happens; a quiet recognition, a moment of connection. Without that gaze, the point of a portrait can be lost.

In my own paintings, I don’t seek to replicate McCurry’s photographs exactly. Instead, I interpret them by adding my own sensibility, my brushwork, my choices of tone, texture, and colours. That’s the beauty of painting: the translation of another person’s reality through your own eyes.

Out of respect for his artistry, I reached out to Steve McCurry for permission to use his photographs as reference material. He granted it graciously; a generous reminder that art thrives through shared creativity. When artists inspire each other, the whole truly is greater than the sum of its parts.

So, here I share my latest portrait studies, the outcome of many hours of learning, experimenting, and refining my craft. I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I’ve loved creating them.

Going back to basics…

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After my last attempt at portraiture—where my portrait of Frida Kahlo went through five reworks—I decided it was time to get back to basics. It also doesn’t hurt to learn from a master! Ignacio Rojas, an incredibly talented Adelaide artist, offers small, insightful classes at the Fullarton Community Centre Art Workshop. I recently attended one and created a painting of my son that I’m genuinely proud of.

In these classes, we paint from photographs. I started by sketching the face in charcoal to get the form right, ensuring the sketch was fixed to prevent it from bleeding into the paint. Then, we worked exclusively in black and white—a technique that’s particularly useful for me right now.

I tend to overwork my paintings in an effort to perfect them, so this process has been a lesson in restraint. The key to a good painting? Knowing when to step away. ABANDON… ABANDON… NOW!

I shall be taking his ‘limited palette’ class next year to learn more invaluable tips from this master artist.

January 19th 2025. You can find him on INSTAGRAM Ignacio_rojas_artist

Sculptures Of the Sea

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Chanel markers are made to stand out. Using a calm waters theme helps to put another perspective on the marker’s identification. I quite like the notion of them being a resting spot for seabirds whilst on their journeys, a-catch-your-breath cafe for gulls.

As the author of this work I (Barbara Harkness) acknowledge the moral rights to the above have been asserted with the copyright, designs and patents act 1988. If you wish to use any of my material you may contact me for permission.

On Any Given Day

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On any given day we can be blindsided! Personal tragedy can strike and we are all too suddenly reminded of our mortality! But to watch the sun rise over the ocean with the promise of a new day is to reflect on and be grateful for all we have right now. To watch the sun rise anywhere is akin to being reborn every day. A sunrise can be dramatic, like a curtain slowly revealing the main act, a drama we are unaware of just how it will unfold. Each sunrise is intrinsically different than the last, with no promise of anything better either! Lest the notion of enjoying the present moment for what it is. At the beginning of any new day there is a sombre darkness – like the dark night of the soul. Then the brilliance of the sun appearing is the balm that nature provides us with, and a realisation that we live in a stunningly beautiful world. Pertinent to these uncertain times is the knowledge that anything can change…and quickly, another reminder to appreciate all we have which is good and bright in life.

These are the capturing’s of my early mornings spent in Northern New South Wales on various beach locations: Bogangar, Casuarina, Tallows, Kings Cliff, Cabarita and Lennox heads and at varying times, witnessing the sun rise.In 2019 I spent time caring for my ex-husband Bob, who was blindsided with a brain tumour and given 8 weeks to live. I promised myself I would watch the sun rise everyday,… and I did.  As I witnessed the sun rise, I also watched someone I loved slip away from existence.  This was a poignant reminder to appreciate the ‘right now’ and ‘the given day’ ahead of me. The experience was profoundly life changing.

My body of work – the heads of agreement!

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studio2

Studio1

I believe that the environment we live in affects our ability to create. Therefore sometimes it is necessary to create the environment first. Well, this is what works for me, and is why it has taken five years to complete the environment for creativity to fully blossom. The environment I talk of is mostly exterior and therefore visual, however there is a flow through to the interior environment as a result of having a suitable space to work from. The renovations to the studio were in fact completed in 2015, but the renovation to my life was still a work in progress.

Last weekend I finally “hung” my body of work from the recently completed and final year of an Arts degree (Bachelor of Visual Art), onto the walls of my studio. Interestingly (as you can see) there are no body’s, and the portraits wear headgear reminiscent of a death mask.  I started with only two portraits and ended up doing five, and ironic that in the end they all fitted so perfectly onto this funny curved wall which is the main hanging space in the studio. It was as if I had somehow subconsciously painted these portraits to suit my studio; the middle one of me emerging from the dark, smack bang in the middle and the others facing inward, surrounding me in support.

Titled ‘The Immortal Soul’, this recently completed body of work explores my life experiences and spiritual beliefs. Through a combination of mythological, psychological and symbolic imagery, these paintings reflect facets of my persona. The sequence of five paintings is structured around the idea of personality archetypes as defined by Carl Jung and depicted through the language of surrealism. The masked aspect is symbolic of death. Through the executioners hood I reflect on my existential approach to life and how I have reinvented myself many times over. The hoods therefore speak of endings and new beginnings. All the portraits of the archetypes explore the concept that humans have two basic natures, the physical and the spiritual. They represent psychic intuition: the unseen inner life, which guides me in the physical world.

When I stood back and looked at my work, I was reminded of the quote by T.S Elliot, ” we shall not cease from exploring, and at the end of our exploring will be to arrive and know the place for the first time”. Even though I was born with this gift, I felt a sense accomplishment, I was amazed (that I could do this), and they made me feel worthy. These paintings define me right now, but in five-ten years better paintings will define me, and THAT is the power of self discovery through ART.

HAIL ART!……long may it live (after the resurrection)!

Hyper Realism

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Eley Portrait

I am not a hyper realist artist, and nor do I wish to be. However this is my attempt at painting in the hyper realism style, created through a master class workshop at The Art Academy (Adelaide based art school run by Robin Eley). What I wanted to achieve from the workshop was knowledge about form, and how this is created through tone and colour, and also mixing skin tone from the correct palette. We all painted the same painting from a photo, so I don’t know the woman (left side in case it isn’t obvious!)

Robin Eley is a generous teacher who happily shares his knowledge, and mastery of paint technique with a class of roughly thirty people, over a five day intensive workshop. He’s also a super cool dude who is living the dream as a successful artist in Los Angeles. I think it is quite safe to say that he still calls Australia home, and shall return to our fare shores once he has made his mark on the world. Other notable Adelaide artists such as Tsering Hannaford also teach at The Academy. The next up coming workshop is in January next year with David Jon Kassan and Shana Levesen. I highly recommend the Academy for those artists who wish to develop their painting technique. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and the camaraderie gained by meeting other like minded souls.