Mark Hollis

Mark Hollis
11”x14”
Acrylic on Canvas

This is the fourth painting in my portrait series of early 80s musicians — Mark Hollis of Talk Talk.

I had two basic goals for this painting:
1) Start with a large brush and only switch to smaller brushes for specific details.  I have a bad habit of getting bogged down with detail too early in the process which tends to give the painting a more “tortured” look.  I think I achieved this goal.
2) Don’t obsessively blend.  In past paintings, I feel like I spent too much time blending paint to produce smooth skin tones, etc.  This is often very laborious and, in the end, can create a less compelling finished product.  For this painting, I took a very casual approach letting the brush strokes shine through.