Campbell in Progress

I'd been intending to produce an oil of Campbell (swagman and bush balladeer) for over 6 months, since completing a pastel of just his face. His shirt, belted jeans and hands give more of a sense of his lifestyle and his character, that I missed including in the earlier pastel (only hinting at in the battered old Akubra).I'd left the painting at this first, underpainting, stage for ages while I worked out how I wanted to lay the various colours in and what kind of a background would work.
This was a bit of an experiment, playing with building up the colour, shape and tone through masses of little brush strokes. It doesn't look too bad in this image, but the reality was it didn't work at all: the shirt ended up far too fussy and distracting, the hair resembled nothing as much as a cheap wig and the arms (which I hadn't painted in that way at this point) were a disaster, looking like he'd been attacked with a cheese grater. The background was also a bit insipid, not supporting the sense of high key light that is such a part of his environment as well as helping to contour the strength of character in his face.

Campbell II: Oil on Linen (81cm x 68cm)

I'd left it again for over a month and came back to it last weekend, determined to complete it or take it off the stretchers and condemn it to the Redback sanctuary in the shed. Out went the lines and the pale background, in came a much looser treatment of the shirt and hat, and a smoother glazing approach to his face. Happy now. I think.