September 7, 2012

Commission: Alexander Duthart

I was commissioned to paint this earlier this year...

It's a portrait of Alexander Duthart (1925–1986); he was a Scottish drummer who revolutionized Scottish pipe band snare playing. Thanks Wikipedia!

Unfortunately, Mr. Duthart didn't take a lot of photographs in his lifetime. The ones he did take were extremely 1970s-style blurry. On top of that, he also wore about 18 yards of plaid as part of his Scottish drummer outfit.

Painting plaid from a blurry reference photo is pure hell on the eyeballs. It instantly makes you feel like you've been in a Wal-Mart for 5 hours (or 15 minutes, same difference) and/or like you've been awake for 4 days watching Requiem for a Dream on a loop. 

I won't ever paint plaid again, ever.  EVER.

Anyway, this painting was framed at Artworks and now resides with a former student of Mr. Duthart.

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