DRAWINGS & PAINTINGS: October Edition

Reece Bell
1 day ago
4 min read

A Note From Harry - October Reflections

I’ve made a big decision this month. Using Lead white has been almost an article of faith in the tradition of Western painting, not only for myself but for many other artists. There are advantages to using it, mainly for me in the handling and slight transparency which makes the softness in the development of skin tones so enjoyable and effective. The health hazards have never put me off, you actually have to eat the stuff to do any damage, and you must remember to keep it away from your kids.

When I started out in the Sixties I used Titanium white and Zinc white, as did most of my contemporaries because of their covering power in the case of Titanium and transparency in Zinc often with acrylic binder. Then, (I was in my early thirties) I read a book by Max Doerner called Materials of the Artist, which is not so much a compilation as a love song to painting and it’s tradition in the West. His love of that tradition and the art that comprised it, and his relishment of the materials used by the masters, particularly Lead white, was so persuasive that I started using the stuff exclusively, and studying old master techniques and copying them in museums (you could do that then).

For a number of years, I used only lead. Zinc as a separate colour was less useful so I stopped using it. It was an admixture in many of the proprietary whites anyway. But titanium has its qualities too, and gradually they began to insert themselves into my paintings until I was using it separately and mixed in most paintings. Titanium for sharp, solid and detail, Lead for soft and atmospheric passages.

Until this month. I want to stop worrying about not using lead and being disloyal to the greats (and Max). My paintings from fifty years ago show that Titanium has held up as well as Lead, I use glazes so the colour is not such an issue, and all the effects that I’m seeking I can now achieve using Titanium and the lead white substitutes available.

1. 1972 Titanium

1976 Titanium

Copy Lead

Early 80's Lead

1980 Lead

80's Lead & Titanium

90's Lead & Zinc

Early 90's. Mostly Titanium

2010's Lead & Titanium

Recent Titanium & Some Zinc

Here's some images of what I'm working on

Apart from the Great Lead Decision, same old stuff. A couple of doors, a couple of sketches, prospects for more finished work, and I have some portraits on the go, mostly friends as it happens. Most of my friends, if they stay such long enough, get at least drawn. After all, it's cheaper than getting a model and sometimes less trouble. If they’re sitting around anyway…..

Occasionally something needs celebrating or I just get interested and they get the full treatment - a painted portrait. I like the process because it’s surprising that you can be acquainted with someone for years and find different aspects of what they look like, besides simply being able to tell them apart from others. Also how they see themselves, for example in the form of clothes, pose, additional elements etc. during discussions about the portrait.

I don’t do many commissioned portraits in a year, even though I like the process, because I usually spend so much time on them that the price I can charge doesn’t reflect the amount of work involved. Here are a few things I’ve been doing.

New This Month

Book Available

Drawings remains at the heart of what I do - a record of my thoughts, studies, and private experiments across decades. The collection features drawings from early years to recent studies: anatomical sketches, still lifes, self-portraits and preparatory works, many of which are being seen in print for the first time.

The book also includes an introductory essay exploring the theory and purpose of drawing today, offering a personal insight into how I see the act of drawing - not just as preparation, but as a complete art form in itself.

Buy Your Copy Here

Studio Insight: On Composition and Balance

When it comes to composition, I’m old school - put the most important bit in the middle or on the sweet spot, get other elements leading the eye to it, eye directions aiding the narrative etc. Multiple figures emphasised according to their importance by size or place on the canvas or highlighted by value, colour or detail. Level of detail strictly according to Piero della Francesca’s reasoning none of this Japanese nonsense, bits sticking in from the edge, virtuoso brush strokes etc, giving rise to Expressionist liberties. And paintings that aren’t finished edge to edge are not paintings, they’re studies or unfinished.

Actually, the former is only partly tongue in cheek, I do believe there is a special value in the integrity of edge to edge painting, making a complete space, allowing a credible narrative. However, there are advantages to leaving areas empty or with indeterminate brushwork. There’s a lot you don’t have to account for in such a space, and you can concentrate more readily on simple aspect of a narrative or give more attention to a particular quality or aspect.

Looking Ahead

Plans are to carry on with current work but I can feel a big shift in the Lead white / Titanium white roundabout I have been on for about fifty years. Perhaps it will have matured to something worth talking about in the next issue.

Best wishes,

– Harry