On occasions you meet someone you  just love to paint. This happened on Monday when I met Judy, a beautiful young woman from Kenya. She arrived for the portrait session  dressed, very simply,  in blouse and jeans. She  tentatively suggested, however, that I might be interested in seeing her in her traditional costume which she had also brought. I readily agreed.

When she reappeared, my immediate reaction was “Wow!” Such fantastic colours, patterns and shapes. A million miles from the  jumpers, cardigans or business suits I am normally requested to paint. No contest.

This first sitting lasted two hours. It is a large canvas measuring 30″ x 40 ” and is in oils.

Portrait of a Kenyan Lady

I did not do any preliminary drawing, but went straight in with the brush and paint diluted with turps. Initially, I was planning how much of the figure to include and having done so , concentrating on positioning it on the canvas. It was then down to getting the scale of the head in the correct relationship to the rest of the body and checking the position of the hands. When I was relatively happy with that I focused on the head , and established the various proportions. My normal guidelines, however, were rapidly abandoned as was my usual palette. No more yellow ochres and cadmium reds, but wonderful mixtures of burnt umber, raw sienna, ultramarine, viridian green, purple and orange.

At the end of the two hours, the painting was as above. I was happy with my morning’s work. The composition had been established and the likeness was beginning to appear.

Portrait of a Kenyan Lady

Since then, I have been working on the costume, blocking in the large patterns and vibrant colours. At this stage it is still fairly crude. There are such wonderful textures of material and beadwork , I really must do them justice.

Portrait of a Kenyan Lady

Over the next few days, I shall continue to work on the costume. My next “live” sitting is on Monday when I will focus on painting head and hands. At the moment, we have four sittings planned, but it may take more. I shall chart the progress of the painting over the next few weeks.