"Cabell" By Ariane Beigneux

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Ariane's portraits

Ariane
Beigneux's
Procedure,
Step-by-Step

By Charles M. Daugherty

The following article originally appeared in the book Six Artists Paint a Portrait, Edted by Charles M. Daugherty, North Light Publishers, 1974. Copyright © 1974 by Fletcher Art Services, Inc. Used by permission.


"Cabell" By Ariane Beigneux

riane Beigneux's portraits of children are owned and cherished by parents all over the United States. To supply the constant demand for them she makes three or four long trips a year, traveling to the homes of her clients, many of which are as far away from her Connecticut studio as Florida, Texas, or the midwestern states.

Her usual practice is to spend several days as part of a household, getting to know the child or children she is going to paint, studying them, taking as many as fifty or sixty photographs, and painting a one hour color study. Back in the quiet and seclusion of her own studio she paints the .finished portraits, working from the photographs, the color studies and her remembered impressions.

She received her art training at the National Academy of Design, studying with Gifford Beal, Sidney Dickinson and Ivan Olinsky (there she won the Pulitzer Traveling Scholarship) and at the Art Students League with Jon Corbino and Jean Liberte.

Her career as a painter of children got an early start while she was working at her first job with a commercial art studio in New York. One of her major assignments was a series of calendar paintings of children. Shortly thereafter she showed two paintings at Portraits, Inc., the well known portrait gallery and agency. One was a painting of an old man, the other of a child. She was told that there was not much call for portraits of the elderly, but there might be a market for her paintings of children. They proved to be right and she has worked under the auspices of Portraits, Inc., from that time on.

As the wife of an advertising executive and the mother of two teen-age sons, she is Mrs. William McHale. Of her husband, who has a substantial art background, she proudly states, "He's my severest and most helpful critic." And her sons, needless to say, have been the subjects of several of her best paintings.

Following is her description of how she works.

"Preparation for a portrait painting begins with selection. The three decisions that I find most important are (1) choice of what the sitter is to wear - preferably something simple, becoming and interesting in color; (2) a satisfactory and characteristic pose; (3) distribution of light that is flattering to the model and helpful to me in defining the form of the features.

"My studio has a large north window. It gives a simple, direct light that comes in at a rather high angle. With a north window the light source remains fixed so, of course, it's necessary to move the model until the desired light is achieved. In deciding the pose for this painting we experimented until we settled on one that permitted the light to emphasize the best aspects of the face and at the same time define its features so that I could clearly distinguish their characteristic forms.

"My first step is to make a careful color sketch. I do it with oil paint on a canvas board panel. It's a spontaneous but carefully observed impression of the sitter on which I spend an hour or so. During this time I am studying personality and character while working out a color guide.

"I use a rather cool palette: two whites, Winsor and titanium (the titanium is creamy and easy flowing, the Winsor somewhat stiffer); Winsor lemon, which is a cool yellow; two yellow ochres - yellow ochre pale and gold ochre; Winsor red and Winsor orange. The latter is really a red, a very warm one, and it's my favorite color in mixing skin tones. Then permanent green; two blues - cobalt and ultramarine deep; and finally, for the earth colors, burnt sienna and raw umber. No black. I think of black as an absence of color and I want color.

"I begin the color sketch by drawing directly on the canvas board with an ordinary lead pencil. As soon as I have lightly indicated the principal lines and shapes I switch to a medium size brush and a neutral color - perhaps yellow ochre or burnt sienna with a little blue in it - and continue to draw. I sketch the hair area, the eyes, the jaw and chin line. I'm thinking in terms of drawing, but as I work with the brush I begin putting in the large dark areas with tone, brushing in the hair mass, suggesting the shadows.

"And, as I begin to paint I'm also continually drawing - making changes to get more and more of a likeness. I always keep in mind that I'm doing something that has form, not just outlining what's in front of me.

"What I've done up to this point is almost completely monochromatic. It's really a drawing in paint. Now I begin mixing skintones - white, yellow ochre, lemon yellow, a touch of Winsor orange. I brush in the forehead, the cheeks, the side of the nose. To make forms turn at their edges I mix a slightly darker value by adding a little green to the basic flesh tone.

"I find great enjoyment in doing the color sketch. I feel very relaxed. I usually don't paint in any background - just leave the white canvas behind the head. Often my clients like these preliminary color studies well enough to buy them.

"When the sketch is done I take some black and white photographs of the model to give me a record that will support the color study when I'll be working without the model present. This is particularly necessary in painting portraits of children, who can not be expected to sit for all the hours it takes to complete a painting.

"I have two 8 by 10 inch prints made of the photos I'm going to work from - a normal or somewhat dark print and a.light one. The light print enables me to see into the shadow areas where details are often lost in a dark, or even a normal print.

"In working from photographs it's a good idea to look out for possible distortions, such as occur when the hands are closer to the lens than any other part of the figure. The camera records what's in front of it in detail but we don't see exactly the same way with our two eyes as it does with its one lens. The photograph should be interpreted intelligently, not merely copied.

"I find a good deal of satisfaction in working from photographs because with their help, and the color sketch, and my remembered impressions I'm able to paint for long periods alone in the studio. In this way I can concentrate more completely than when the sitter is present, especially if he or she is a restless child.

"The painting itself begins in much the same way that the color study did. I draw with pencil on the white canvas, working from the photographs and the preliminary sketch. When I've gone far enough with pencil I continue the drawing with a sable brush and a thin mixture of oil paint in a neutral color.

"My palette is set with the same colors I used in painting the sketch. But as I begin putting in the flesh tones I now work with a palette knife or, to be more exact, a flexible painting knife, rather than with brushes.

"If this should sound awkward to some let me say that you'll never know how much precision and control you can achieve with a knife until you've tried using one. For me the painting knife technique seems to increase richness of surface texture. Bits of pure color may be applied with the tip of the knife to make an area vibrant. I particularly like to juxtapose little points of complimentary colors, and then again I often mix colors right on the canvas in this way, thus achieving a subtle blending and tonality. I also apply small amounts of the same color to various sections of the canvas - for example, bits of the background color blended into the figure, usually around the edges to make the form turn, and this, too, helps with the over-all tonality.

"The darks in the picture are established first, to set up the balanced patterns of the composition. I keep the different blocks of color big and simple for as long as possible. It's generally not good to break up simple shapes with too much detail.

"There are three basic color changes to look for in the face. The forehead is creamy, the middle section tends toward pink, and the lower part goes toward cool green-blue, except for the tip of the chin which againis on the pink side.

"While painting I continue to think of the drawing, always revising as I go along. The form, or modelling, in the figure remains uppermost in my mind as the portrait progresses. As I apply the paint I make the strokes of my knife or brush follow the form, so that the surface texture supports and emphasizes the drawing.

"My background is nearly always a simple area of broken color patterns, in neutrals with bits of brighter color worked in here and there. In a portrait the head must always predominate, so I maintain the strongest contrast of light and dark values around the head.

"Many of my portraits of children are painted entirely in my studio, without the presence of the model once I've done the color sketch and taken my photographs. In such cases I consult the parents before beginning the painting. I invite their opinions in choice of a pose, which photographs to use and, when possible, I show them the preliminary color study. If and when the sitter is available, however, as she was in this instance, I like to have a final session in which I can work directly from life. This gives me the opportunity to check details, make corrections, compare my painting with the model. For example, I decided to indicate the pattern on the dress only at the end, when the sitter was in front of me.

"Just how far I'm going to go, how to know when I'm finished, is sometimes best decided by putting the canvas aside for a few days and then getting it out and looking at it with a fresh eye. If everything looks right I know I've done my best and the job is finished."