Jenny works primarily with the traditional medium of oil on canvas, which gives her freedom and flexibility when painting portraits.
The process begins with sketches which take visual information from photographs, or from a sitting with the subject. The image for the portrait comes from these sketches, which Jenny then transfers by drawing onto the canvas. Layers of oil paint are applied slowly to the canvas at first, mapping out areas of tone, light and shade. This indicates features such as the bone structure, shape and profile of the subject’s face. After that, the layers become finer and more transparent to produce skin tone and exact details like eye colour, complexion and hair. While the first few layers of paint are applied with a medium brush, it’s at this point that very careful attention to detail is required to create a successful likeness. To achieve this Jenny uses very small, fine brushes especially for particular details such as the irises, eyelashes and other minute features crucial to the accuracy of the portrait. Once these characteristics are in place the portrait comes to life, allowing the personality of the subject to emerge.
The focus then moves to completing the painting as a whole, with background and subject evened out in order to achieve not just a recognisable image of a particular person, but also a painting which is pleasing to the eye. Finally Jenny uses a technique known as glazing, which involves mixing the paint with quantities of linseed oil and white spirits to create subtle definition such as shadows and highlights, and brings depth and a finished quality to the portrait.