Extracts from the interview with Andrey Zadorin (The Netherlands) that is published in my book "Masters Of Watercolor V. Portrait and Figure"
What place does portraiture take in your Art?
Portraits as such I try not to paint, but sometimes I'm asked, and then I take them as portraits and do not like the interweaving of additional stories in them.
Do you limit your palette when you paint portraits?
For the last fifteen years I have been working with a complete palette. It is similar in both oil and watercolors.
What plays a more important role in your portraits - color or tone?A difficult question, but looking as if from the outside, I see that for me the color goes through tone, but the very first sketches I do are generally only tonal.
Is the light on the model important when you set your portraits?
From the previous answer it is obvious that the lighting is very important - shaping the form, the relation with the background, the color, and just the feeling of air for me goes through the light. As for the model sitting, before the arrival of the model I make many sketches, but always during the work there are surprises, and they are very valuable. As for lighting, sometimes it's natural light, sometimes a short fortune and a lucky ray of sun... Either artificial light, and then the lights aresoffit, but in such cases I do not like complex alignments with different screens, reflectors, in general, the simpler the better.
How do you find an object for your portraits?
If there is an order, then the question is only how to do it better, and so that the work does not end up falling out of the context of what I'm doing, and so far I have been doing such orders only in oil. As for the painting as such and those works that can be attributed to a portrait, there is no difference in approach in comparison with my other paintings, well, the main thing in this is the mood, the feeling of some detachment, an attempt to achieve the infinity of the moment being portrayed.
Is it important to know the object personally?
Undoubtedly, unless you take works based on old photos. When I paint whose characters, I can invent life stories, how to empathize and guess their future destiny, but I have done such work only with oil and technologically at the moment I can not imagine how to perform this in watercolors. As for watercolors, even when working after my reference photos, I constantly compare the result with my feelings from the depicted characters, and in this the unquestionable assistant and critic for me is my wife who has her own view of the people I paint, her feelings in relation to them... It happened so that she knows them not worse than I do. Often her small note is enough to send the work back to the very beginning, and for me it is very important.
Do you rely on your first impression or do you have to examine your model thoroughly?In different ways, there is no recipe here. Sometimes a momentary glance captures the whole atmosphere in your memory and you save within yourself that experienced feeling... It happens sometimes the other way round - an infinite spinning in an attempt to find the necessary solution.
What helps you to capture the character?
Here you can smile at my arrogance, but it seems to me just a skill. I do not know how to name it differently.
Do you prefer to work with different models every time or can one model inspire you for several paintings?
I did not have many models for every time and, if possible, I keep to them. It is important for me that they understand what I'm doing, their kind of attitude to my painting. If I feel it, I treasure it.
What place does portraiture take in your Art?
Portraits as such I try not to paint, but sometimes I'm asked, and then I take them as portraits and do not like the interweaving of additional stories in them.
Andrey Zadorin
Do you limit your palette when you paint portraits?
For the last fifteen years I have been working with a complete palette. It is similar in both oil and watercolors.
What plays a more important role in your portraits - color or tone?A difficult question, but looking as if from the outside, I see that for me the color goes through tone, but the very first sketches I do are generally only tonal.
Andrey Zadorin
Is the light on the model important when you set your portraits?
From the previous answer it is obvious that the lighting is very important - shaping the form, the relation with the background, the color, and just the feeling of air for me goes through the light. As for the model sitting, before the arrival of the model I make many sketches, but always during the work there are surprises, and they are very valuable. As for lighting, sometimes it's natural light, sometimes a short fortune and a lucky ray of sun... Either artificial light, and then the lights aresoffit, but in such cases I do not like complex alignments with different screens, reflectors, in general, the simpler the better.
Andrey Zadorin
How do you find an object for your portraits?
If there is an order, then the question is only how to do it better, and so that the work does not end up falling out of the context of what I'm doing, and so far I have been doing such orders only in oil. As for the painting as such and those works that can be attributed to a portrait, there is no difference in approach in comparison with my other paintings, well, the main thing in this is the mood, the feeling of some detachment, an attempt to achieve the infinity of the moment being portrayed.
Andrey Zadorin
Is it important to know the object personally?
Undoubtedly, unless you take works based on old photos. When I paint whose characters, I can invent life stories, how to empathize and guess their future destiny, but I have done such work only with oil and technologically at the moment I can not imagine how to perform this in watercolors. As for watercolors, even when working after my reference photos, I constantly compare the result with my feelings from the depicted characters, and in this the unquestionable assistant and critic for me is my wife who has her own view of the people I paint, her feelings in relation to them... It happened so that she knows them not worse than I do. Often her small note is enough to send the work back to the very beginning, and for me it is very important.
Andrey Zadorin
Do you rely on your first impression or do you have to examine your model thoroughly?In different ways, there is no recipe here. Sometimes a momentary glance captures the whole atmosphere in your memory and you save within yourself that experienced feeling... It happens sometimes the other way round - an infinite spinning in an attempt to find the necessary solution.
Andrey Zadorin
What helps you to capture the character?
Here you can smile at my arrogance, but it seems to me just a skill. I do not know how to name it differently.
Do you prefer to work with different models every time or can one model inspire you for several paintings?
I did not have many models for every time and, if possible, I keep to them. It is important for me that they understand what I'm doing, their kind of attitude to my painting. If I feel it, I treasure it.
Andrey Zadorin
Do you believe that the likeness is not the only thing thatmakesa portrait successful?
Of course, you need something more.
Of course, you need something more.
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