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strange and beautiful portraits
La Infanta Justina del Camino del Regente: portrait of Justine
oil on canvas board 2005
Oil on canvas board, 16x12 inches, Martin Dace 2005.
Imprimatura: lamp black and titanium white with a little phthalocyanine blue;
Brush drawing and dark tones: burnt umber;
Highlights: yellow ochre and titanium white.
This oil portrait was done in three sittings of one to one and a half hours each. The limiting factor was the loss of winter light rather than the patience of the sitter.
If I had had more sittings I should have completed this painting in full colour, bringing out the soft pale English skin tones of this young American girl. This will never happen with this painting, because my trip to the States came to an end. When I next visit she will be becoming a teenager and I should have to start again.
When this portrait was done Justine was eleven years old. Children often look older in paintings because their features become rested, less animated, and a kind of seriousness emerges. This is less 'cute' than a photograph but it allows greater emotional depth to show. Children are closer in time to their origins in eternity, and have this depth if we look for it. (Depth in adult portraits reflects progress in returning towards the source by efforts made and things endured.)
I gave the portrait a fanciful title in Spanish, because with the fair hair flowing over her shoulders she began to remind me a little of Velasquez's paintings of the Infanta Maria Teresa. However Justine has finer features than the Hapsburg princess, as you can see (if you read this, Justine, don't get a swelled head, which would not be nice at all).
The last sitting was completed on New Year's Day, so this is my first painting of 2005. I feel it is a good omen.
All images are copyright © Martin Dace 2005: you must contact me for permission if you wish to publish or reproduce my pictures. Permission will usually be granted for web use provided my authorship and copyright is acknowledged and a link back to my site is provided. A link from my website to yours is also a possibility!