I’m currently working on a painting of Michael Jackson, showing him in a couple of his many guises. Shown here is the working drawing, and a photo of the first 90 minutes of brushwork on the canvas. It’s a big piece, measuring 32 by 48 inches, so I’m doing a lot of pausing and stepping back from the easel in these early stages.
Full disclosure: I am not, nor was I ever, a Jackson enthusiast (any controversy about his personal life to one side). I don’t dislike his music; I’m just indifferent to it. But a family member in the States is a HUGE fan, and the finished painting will hang in her home, close to another couple of companion pieces (below) which I completed for her a few years ago.
Some people can be touchy about caricatures of their idols, so I applaud her for allowing me to go to town on the King of Pop’s face. Plus, sometimes it can be tricky to caricature an individual you don’t find particularly engaging. But when they are considered icons, it makes life a bit easier. By virtue of sheer ubiquity, and a process of cultural osmosis, you are familiar with them whether you choose to be or not, so, you aren’t coming to them cold. If I had been asked to paint some obscure sports star from, say, 1970s Portugal, it would be a very different matter.
It also helps that Jackson had such a distinct, and, let’s be honest, pretty extreme look. Given the gigantic Aviator sunglasses and the slanted fedora, it may feel like I’m taking an easy route by avoiding the need to render his eyes. But because I’ve painted him for the recipient a couple of times before, I feel it’s OK not to worry about this. Instead, I’m focusing on the monumental feel of the head-and-shoulders image in the foreground, and the drama/lighting of the full-figure pose behind.
The palette, for those who are interested in these things, consists of titanium white, Mars black, burnt sienna, Van Dyck brown, ultramarine, Naples yellow, and a dash of cadmium red for the lips.
Anyway, that’s my thinking, and my progress on this so far. I’ll post the final piece in Substack Notes, in due course. Thanks for reading this far.