Philo
Phil, vagabond and rocker
Playboy of the Western World
Poet, holder of our dreams
M16 rock
Machine-gun blues
Drilling a bore-hole
Through walls of indifference
Through the Northern Taliban pall
Through our hearts and through the wall
Lizzy – loud, live and dangerous
Twin-guitared, guttural
Over-driven purveyors of precision
Rat-tatted, staccato riffs
Razor edged and riven
Driven through our heads
A delicious distortion
This is a portrait of my late father. This portrait is featured in my Book, Crossing Borders published by Guildhall Press. There’s a poem, Last Man Standing that goes with this (also featured in the book) says more than I need to here. The book by the way features Landscapes from Donegal and Derry, portraits and a few other things besides. The book can be ordered from the publisher’s website, www.ghpress.com You can read the poem on my blog: joecampbellcomicart.blogspot.com
Last Man Standing
My Da was the last to go
“I should be boxed like the rest of them,”
He said to me near the end
I would catch glimpses of him in those last days
Across lanes of traffic,
Out of the side window of my car
A small white-haired man
Every step soft and sore
Limping down for milk
“That’s my Da!” I thought
Not the giant that bestrode my boyhood
Not the quiet man behind my mother
Not the athlete with the All-Ireland medals of his youth
Not the man who wrote letters to the bereaved offering his sympathy
Not the friend who never questioned my point of view
Not the man who never complained about the loneliness
But the one left behind
The last man standing
This bridge really is a gift for any painter. The foreground had old weathered stones covered with moss and lichen. The two walls either side of the bridge then lead the eye from the front of the painting into the mid ground where the eye is drawn to O Doherty’s Keep, (the remains of a castle)
The keep was the seat of the O Doherty Clan, ancestral rulers of Inishowen and only dates back to 1300 or so… Some of its more famous incumbents were, ship-wrecked sailors from the Spanish Armada and no less than Wolfe Tone, the leader of the United Irishmen and the 1789 Rebellion. He was captured a few yards from the keep by the British, arrested and imprisoned there before being taken away for execution.
As if that wasn’t enough, in the background is a 18th century manor house built by a Colonel Vaughan in 1718…Now that’s a composition. Add to that the day I was there the sun shone casting shadows and with a clear blue sky the colours sang, with that light, this could have been painted in the South of France…and not rainy Donegal at all…
This is a portrait of my daughter, Margaret (Maggs) Campbell. I really liked the idea of the sunlight crossing the picture. I don’t mind admitting that was difficult to paint. The light caused so many little subtle variations in colour and tone as it crossed the face. It was difficult to control the underlying base flesh tones as a result.
If you look at the left hand side there is more of a crimson/pinkish hue add to that the sunlight is at its most intense on that side (Margaret was posed right next to a window here). As the light traverses the nose becomes nothing more than an almost white stripe and the shadow cast by the nose is dark and intense in contrast to the highlights on the nose and cheek. Note how light as also been reflected into that shadow making the shadow colour and tone vary. Finally on the right-hand side of the face there is a thin band of reflected colour as the light is bounced off a nearby wall back on to Margaret.
There is a similar pattern of ever changing colour and tone in the background wall where the bands of light continue on. The window had louvre blinds hence the banding… My very favourite bit is the right eye. This ball of fluid has been lit up by the intense light. How wrong would it have been to have made the eyes the same colour here…
Painted this portrait of my son, John about 10 years ago. The pose and style were influenced a Titian portrait, Man in a Blue Sleeve originally painted in 1509. This pose has such a power. Always better in portraiture to turn the head away from the body. Here the body is side on. The sitter looks out at us, his sidewards glance adds so much more character. There is also a very strong light source. In the case of the original Titian, the light hits full on the left side of the face. Throwing the other side into deep shadow. I positioned John right beside a window. The only light is that of daylight echoing the Titian painting. Notice the way the elbow on the Titian resting on a shelf. This gives a much more three-dimensional effect, almost like the subject was not completely “in” the picture. Also in the original the sleeve is a work of genius. So beautifully rendered. It dominates the front of the picture and the picture as a whole, beautiful. In John’s portrait I wanted, in contrast, to have a T-shirt and jeans look to emphasise the 21st. century version and I intensified the yellow behind the shadow area of John’s face to tonally deepen the effect of light and shade.
What is your earliest memory? Describe it in detail: the place, the setting, the sights, smells, and sounds.
joecampbellart 