Atelier News: a reconstruction part 2

Reconstruction portraits are portraits that are made without the possibility of a life session. Based on pictures and descriptions, with a lot of interpretation and going back to the client “is this the colour of his/her eyes” etc…

There’s a bit of detective work and the end result is often based on that, combined with pictures and sketches. To me, a great aspect of these reconstructions is that I am limited to working from photo’s, and I like limits. Also lovely is the fact that you are creating a memory and a monument. Working from photo’s is not at all bad by the way: they are often spontaneous, they are very patient, they don’t move and they are strictly two-dimensional.

After a couple of talks, where we determined his pose, and sketches for the colours (the one shown here I made to get a feel for his contrast (he’s very dark haired with a light skin) of Chris, who passed away 15 years ago, on a very young age, I have now started the first washes of the actual aquarelle: