Painting the President of the Australian Senate
- The Honorable Paul Calvert
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I have just painted the President's head for the fifth time! Beneath and upside
down you can see the forth attempt, which I had left intact as I was unsure whether the fifth version would
be an improvement. This is called hedging your bets! At this moment the canvas reminds me of a playing card.
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he highest office bearers in the Australian Administration (including the Prime Minister, Governor General and
the President of the Senate) receive as part of their tenure the privilege of having their portraits painted to
hang in Parliament House, Canberra - Australia's capital. This tradition goes back over a hundred years. The collection
of portraits housed in Parliament House is a snapshot of the history of our country's political landscape.
Late one afternoon while working in my studio, out of the blue, I received a phone call from the Director of the
Parliament House art collection, asking if I would come to Canberra to meet the President of the Senate. I was
told that having viewed an extensive portfolio of works by Australian painters the President had asked that I
be approached to paint his official portrait. It was an honour indeed.
At my first meeting with the President I was keen to find out as much as I could about him: his background, his
interests, what he considered to be his most important contributions to the Country etc. I also spoke to his staff,
advisors and others who knew him well to get their thoughts and input. The President's wife Jill was especially
helpful when it came to insights into the man, as is often the case. A proud Tasmanian (the island State immediately
south of mainland Australia) the President was keen for me to represent his Tasmanian heritage in the portrait.
I went about looking for ways to symbolise that fact. I noticed in his office that there was a brass statuette
of a 'Thylacine' or 'Tasmanian Tiger' —- a now extinct marsupial that had up until the early 1900s, roamed
the bushland of Tasmania. It is a truly iconic symbol of the State which I thought would make a great inclusion
in the portrait. I also noticed a beautiful landscape painting of the Tasmanian wilderness hanging in the President's
dining room, painted by Tasmanian artist Philip Wolfhagen. With the artist's gracious permission I included a
section of it in the background of my portrait of the President.
Having decided the fifth head
was the best I have proceeded to paint in the figure and in
so doing have begun to paint over the previous head - always
a sad moment. I usually paint a bit of the background around
the figure as I go, since I'm keen to establish the edges while
the paint is still wet.
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After taking many photographs of the President I had him sit to me for a head and shoulders oil sketch and later
a half-size compositional sketch. The later sketch was required by the Commonwealth to show members of the Historic
Memorials committee (Chaired by the Prime Minister) which oversees such commissions, in order to gain their approval
before I began the actual portrait.
Once I had the go ahead, I stretched and primed a 60" x 40" canvas and blocked in the composition roughly
in charcoal. I then proceeded to paint the President's head. I almost always start with the head. If I can make
that work, I then have the confidence I need to paint the rest of the picture.
I painted the head once, twice, three times, and still I was unhappy
with it. Each time I would scrape it off then use a rag to remove
all but the barest residue of paint, letting the canvas dry overnight
before starting over again. By the forth attempt I couldn't tell whether
what I had painted was good or not. I had exhausted my vision and
could no longer see things objectively. I remember thinking "this
may be as good as it gets!" I wasn't sure if I could do any better.
So with that in mind I didn't want to scrape off head no. 4 just yet.
Instead I rotated the canvas 180 degrees and painted the head for
the fifth time, but left the forth version intact, hedging my bets!
The latest version was indeed the best and I was happy with how it
looked, so I proceeded to paint over the previous head. From that
point onwards things came together pretty well. From start to finish
the picture took about 4 weeks to paint, with at least one of those
weeks spent painting and repainting heads!
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Here we see
the half-size sketch beside the finished portrait in my studio.
I painted a few things differently in the portrait from the
way they were originally in the sketch. e.g. lowering the bottom
edge of the landscape painting in the background and darkening
the top of the sky.
VIEW FINISHED PAINTING.
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I'm happy to say the President and his wife were very pleased with
the final portrait, which has just been framed and will hang along
side other former Presidents' portraits in Parliament House.
This photo shows the President with the portrait just after our final sitting.
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