30 Paintings in 30 Days
After Fairfield Porter
I was first introduced to Fairfield Porter's style by Tim Horn. This style of portraiture is often referred to as a "mudhead". The first time I heard that term was at a Peggi Kroll-Roberts workshop. Here is Henshe's definition:
"A model, often one of the local Portuguese
fisherman’s children, posed on the beach, sitting on a barrel with their
back to the sun. The students positioned their easels facing the
shadow side of the model. Hawthorne instructed them to paint this
dramatic silhouette against the blaze of light on the beach, the water,
and emanating from the sky. By having his students paint with a large,
unwieldy putty knife, it forced them to concentrate on the large shapes
of color, rather than outlines around the shapes, the way one might do
when painting with a brush. The quality of a study was judged by the
effectiveness with which the light was suggested by these simple shapes
of color. The resulting mud-like color of the face in shadow gave rise
to the studies' nickname, "mud head"."
One more to go!
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