Portrait painting is inherently difficult and requires a unique understanding of and sensitivity to the sitter. This practical book considers the historical context of portrait painting and its contemporary practice. Written by a professional portrait painter, it describes the intricacies of making a portrait not just for the technically minded but also for those who are interested in a painter's perspective on the role and importance of portraiture.Step-by-step demonstrations of portraits and self-portraits.Techniques that use colour to introduce subtleties and presence.Advice on catching a likeness and overcoming difficulties.Discussion about the significance of copying and photography.Insights into the artistic process of the portrait painter.Work of contemporary and distinguished painters.'What fascinates me most, much much more than anything else in painting, is the portrait, the modern portrait.' Vincent van Gogh. A practical guide that considers the historical context of portrait painting and its contemporary practice.Aimed at beginners and more experienced; untutored groups and individual artists of portrait painters.Gives step-by-step demonstrations of portraits and self-portraits.Covers use of colour to introduce subtleties and presence.Superbly illustrated with 180 colour illustrations.Anthony Connolly is a professional portrait painter and won the prestigious Prince of Wales Award for Portrait Drawing in 2004.

Tai-Shan Schierenberg is a marvelous painter of portraits. Their impressive range runs from the great-and-good (as in the National Portrait Gallery's celebrated study of Sir John Mortimer) to family and friends. But the portraiture, though central to the artist's life and work, tells only part of the story, which is unfolded in these pages in three ways. First is the beautifully reproduced work itself. Second, William Packer has written an incisive and stimulating essay, which explores and extols Schierenberg's achievement - 'taking no short cuts, making no compromises, sticking to his personal commitment...to painting as painting'. And then the artist himself, as fluent with pen as with paint, gives a revelatory account of his development as painter and man. Born into an artistic and peripatetic family, son of a Chinese mother and German father, Schierenberg creates memorable pen portraits of the experiences, people, art and ideas that shaped him and his work. His tales of St. Martin's and the Slade are convincing but sometimes surprising - for instance, the invaluable lessons learnt from the rigorous Euan Uglow. roots: 'I'm actually an abstract painter waylaid by the gratification of realism.' The gratification is ours, too; the work abounds with painterly passion and vivid life - whether the subject is a small child, an unnamed sitter, an erotic nude, or one of the magical and important landscapes taken from the artist's beloved Norfolk. The work is a tour de force, unending and unfolding, to which the book does full and enchanting justice.

Includes report of the director of fine arts, of the director of the Museum, and of the director of the Technical schools.

All royalties, a minimum of £2.50 from the sale of each book, will be paid to NHS Charities Together (registered charity no. 1186569) to fund vital projects. When the UK went into lockdown in March 2020 to contain the spread of the Covid-19 virus, artist Tom Croft offered to paint an NHS key worker's portrait for free. Unsure how to help and offer his support, he wanted to capture and record the bravery and heroism of frontline workers who were risking their physical and mental health for our wellbeing. Tom suggested that other artists might want to do the same. He made his offer via video message on Instagram and was immediately contacted by Harriet Durkin, a nurse at the Manchester Royal Infirmary, who had contracted Covid-19 and, now recovered, was about to return to the frontline. Tom's portrait of Harriet, wearing PPE, was the first in what became a global art project. The response to the initiative was staggering and Tom personally paired up 500 artists and NHS workers in the first two weeks. When numbers reached the thousands, Tom set up a traffic light system so that artists and frontline workers could match themselves. Portraits in all mediums followed, from oils to pencil, sculpture to ceramic, mosaic to mural. This book presents a selection of these remarkable images. Some are by leading artists such as Alastair Adams and Mary Jane Ansell, and they are showcased here as both a celebration and a remembrance, in physical form, of the dedication of our NHS key workers. 'I just couldn't imagine what it must be like to have to put on your PPE and head into the frontline of the pandemic, so I wanted to try and thank NHS workers in some small way. We are indebted to them, so to be able to commemorate, celebrate and record their experiences through portraiture felt fitting. This collection will stand as a permanent record of their bravery in a time of national crisis.' Tom Croft