Description
Faces in the Mirror II – a narrow tower and a line of smoke
Painting on canvas elongates a single face into a narrow upright tower running from the top edge of the canvas to the bottom — modern painting in which the proportions are the joke and the face plays it straight.
Technique and texture
The ground is a soft passage from warm ochre on the left to cool grey on the right, with no visible stroke anywhere in it. The face is built from three large planes that separate by tone alone rather than by any drawn line. The smoke is one unbroken thin stroke, never once lifted.
The motif
The nose is drawn out into a narrow plane that runs almost to the lips, and it is what carries the whole vertical. The eyes are small and half closed and the mouth is little and turned down, so the expression stays withheld. Black hair splits into two points that stick out sideways like wings, and the ears are wound into spirals — the only ornament on an otherwise severe head.
Setting and placement
Earth tones with no strong colour in them sit quietly beside timber and leather instead of arguing with them. The upright crop is what makes it useful: it takes the narrow slot between shelves or the strip beside a door.
- Technique: hand-painted painting on canvas, stroke-free graded ground, tonally separated planes, one unbroken stroke of smoke
- Palette: ochre, grey, black, brown, brick
- Ideal for: studies, reading corners, hallways
- Character: withheld, wry, characterful
Choose the size that suits your wall.
