An Imaginary Portrait, in Oils, With Stuart Davies 

I love this portrait. He looks like a character from a Tolstoy novel, or Game Of Thrones. And it was thrilling watching it evolve. I pray you’ll find it in your heart to do another portrait demonstration at some point. 🙏🏼

I just love watching you paint. I learn a lot just observing. No idea why you don’t consider yourself a portrait painter. You undervalue your talent.

I quite enjoyed this. He is rather magnificent!

This could be Zues. Great painting.

No need to run to the hills! What i always find so interesting with your paintings is your, apparently, relaxed attitude to what your work will result in. This portrait comes ‘alive’ inthe first minutes of painting. It isn’t just a painting of a face, it is a person. Just fascinating! Please, don’t let this be your last portrait.

Looked like a bronze sculpture before the dark background on the left was added. It jumps off the canvas with dimension. Wow! Hope you are mending.💜

That was so helpful to see how you start a portrait! Thanks for showing that. I hope your back is better soon! Take care

The background is what makes this work for me. The rough, dark, background really pulls out the sense of piercing melancholy from the face. It creates a thickness and weight to whatever is on the man's mind that wouldn't be there if it was smoothed out or left white.

You created a real man, deep in thought. I would hang this where I would see it daily, to remind me to do same. Loved you thought process as you moved through it.

I think you must continue painting portraits, you are extremely good at it, and I have enjoyed your video. I always strive to do better portraits, and this has given me the push I needed .

Thank you, I will watch this again. Most enjoyable. You should keep him. I definitely would. 😊

This is beautiful Stuart, I would turn his beard and hair into clouds and a river, he looks like old Father Time

You are so right, there are many ways to start a portrait. Watching you start in such an irreverent way, I thought, "where is he going with this?" then it's like you just carved him out of nothing. I also have had some of my favorite moments with a paper towel. Sometimes, magic just happens. I'm in awe.

Sorry to hear about your back, and wish you a speedy recovery. I absolutely love the bone structure created with a couple of swipes of rolled up tissue paper. Looking forward to your next painting

Amazing how you pull a portrait out of the seemingly random mass of tones and shapes at the beginning. Watching you perform this magic gives one the confidence to push on when painting and just keep manipulating the paint until the desired result is achieved. Also love your humorous comments. Thank you for sharing!

I've learnt more than you can imagine in such a short time from your videos. I am very grateful. Thank you.

'He looks very cross, doesn't he?' 'This guy needs to see a doctor.' 'Nose has definitely been thumped a few times'. 'I wonder who he is..?' :D

You are so brave to paint for us and so talented, thank you so much Stuart…fantastic work

I thoroughly enjoyed this painting and it turned out great!

Wonderful. I enjoyed watching this. He makes me think of a king. Castles, swords, horses, betrayal. I love it.

Stuart, this was wonderful! I enjoyed watching the evolution of darks and lights into a face! Thank you for sharing this with us! Hope you are feeling better soon!❤️❤️❤️❤️

I'm so sorry you hurt your back! That really sucks, hope you feel better soon. Lovely portrait. Thank you, Stuart💜

What do you mean this may be your last portrait? There is nothing more satisfying that the remarkable human face! Please reconsider for your sake. I so love your work!

Ooooh I love your portraits. I would love to see more of this. It's kinda sad if that you don't like painting them anymore :( But I respect it tho

Hi Stuart hope you get well soon, I found the portrait really mesmerising, dont keep knocking yourself about not being a portrait painter it is brilliant regards Jeff

Give GOD the glory. He has greatly talented you, STUART DAVIES!!!! Amazing work! Facecape galore!

Awesome bone structure! Please do more imagination portraits. Thanks for the video Master Stuart Davies.

Don't pull yourself down. This portrait is magnificent.

Bravo!!! This was so amazing to watch ,a few strokes of paint a few tissue swipes and voilia... an amazing portrait!. Loved watching this. I would like to see more.

'There aren't enough clouds'. 😕 I love that! ❤

Stuart, for having thrown your back out, you have done an amazing job!!

Very accomplished artist. Never doubt your all round ability. Carry on and give us many more hours of joy. Thanks.

Your ease of getting an amazing result astounds me.

Blown away once again 💖🕊️ absolutely love this channel 💖🕊️ so peaceful to watch 💚 God bless you all ✝️

You're only beginning, but I already find this imaginary man of interest. I've watched the darker shades of your landscapes come to life with contrasts (twinkles??), and you're creating your typical darker shades for this man. I keep waiting for you to use lighter colors, not pastel, but rich, lighter shading.

Really enjoyed the portrait , hope you feel better , love your landscapes and your style. you sure can do a lot with a two inch shop brush, totally mesmerizes me every time the painting evolves, thank for leading me to your wife’s Chanel she’ll be on my play list from now on. we need more souls like her in this world! Please share another Portrait painting some time in the future if you can, to me it shows how uninhibited and fearless of the painting processes you are. great inspiration, thank you for your time and effort on your up loads!!

thanks Stuart your lessons encourage people to have a go glad you kept him

Stuart, WOW!!! It was wonderful to see how a twisted bit of paper that you've used in your landscapes to create highlights on trees, suddenly becomes the tool to create the zygomatic arch of the eye! The bunched up piece of paper, used on landscapes to create foliage, used to create a highlight on the eyebrows! How the laying on of paint, with brush marks were transformed into shadows and highlights to the human face. Thank you for demonstrating that the techniques you've used on your other videos were not just limited to landscapes! To me this has been a very 'freeing' revelation! I disagree with your statement that you are 'not a portrait painter', I would instead say, you are a painter. Your techniques are used to create landscapes of rolling hillsides, wind twisted trees, ocean vistas and yes portraits too! I immensely enjoyed this video, it is now booked marked and will be revisited many more times in my future studies!

you got my full solidarity!! I suffer from a bad back( so I concentrate on my paintings, because working is out of the question!!) so you got my full solidarity!! Back-pains are some of the worst pains you can ' experience'!! And greetings from Denmark!!🌿🌿

Excellent portrait. Very inspiring and I enjoyed watching every minute! Wishing you all the best and hoping you have a speedy recovery Stuart. We need you! A very heartfelt thank you for sharing your talent with all of us!!

I'm not enough of a painter or art expert to judge whether you produced a good portrait, Stuart, but I DO know that you created something I really like. There's so much character and strength in this face! I tend to think that character and pretty do not go together :-) Hope you get better really quickly. And, yes, I'm looking forward to the next landscape; it is definitely your forte nowadays.

I'm blown away! Like you I have become obsessed with skies - but this is way beyond - now I want to learn portraits- imaginary.

This was a wonderful tutorial…I never realized I could construct a portrait making the tones in a similar way that I do with charcoals. I will be forever grateful because you helped me get from charcoal portraits to oil as well as create a value study right on the canvas. I love your landscapes as well, but this was phenomenal for me. Thank you..

Hi Stuart. I hope your back has eased. I’m fascinated about how you’ remove so effectively the colour, and the form just emerges, I don’t know how recent this video is. I haven’t been tuning in for a while but it’s really lovely to revisit you and hear you chatting away! So soothing and pleasant. I haven’t painted for a while . No reason just busy and lazy, Thanks again, Freda

Stuart, I hear you on not getting the same satisfaction out of portraiture compared to landscapes, but I would like to share a story of one of my painting instructors from college: She used to work exclusively as a figurative painter, but when she went for her MFA, she wanted to experiment with landscapes. She wasn't sure how to marry these seemingly disparate practices, but one of her instructors encouraged her to think about the figurative quality of landscapes and to channel her inclinations for the natural forms of the body towards her new body of work (no pun intended). The value in this story, for me at least, is that painting-and art in general-, is less about the 'what' and more about the 'how'. So it may be worth it to try to think about your contemporary landscape and how you can apply it to portraiture, if you so choose. I would love to see you experiment with this, but again, I understand that you've already done the whole portraiture thing and like to work with landscapes.

So glad you kept it

Your work deeply inspires me . Than you for 40 minutes of peace and joy.

Your work is so amasing thankyou so much for your caring ways when you teach us

I'll pray on your recovery. Unfortunate that you don't enjoy it, cause I loved to watch you working on that portrait. Appreciate for going out of your usual. Muito obrigado!

I have watched you paint for a couple years now, usually thru my tv and am unable to comment that way but I need to say something to you...You are an amazing artist and to watch you paint this old guy starting with your tonal colors was really quite something and just further confirmed how great of an artist you are.....I love watching you and you are just incredible!!!

This portrait is very true to life! I watched the video and got the confidence that painting portraits is definitely very difficult for me. Many thanks!!!

As always another great tutorial,thanks Stuart. 😘👍👍👍

This was brilliant, so refreshing thanks.

I hope your back gets better soon. Great painting. I struggle with portraits, so this was very useful..

Well I just enjoyed watching you creating a face with the illusion of detail. It was delightful and frankly I think you do yourself down because most of us would be thrilled especially how the eye materialised so effectively

Yes, this is the sort of thing I’ve been looking for.

I’m Happy you did’nt run up the Hill, but upload this to us. In the end, it Turn out to be a good fantasy portrait. I love the Way he Turn out. Thank you so much for showing us.

I am fascinated by watching you paint. Thank you so much 💓

Love your portrait! I don’t understand why you don’t like it. You are a wonderful artist! Hope you’re feeling better soon.

One word: spectacular.

Love it!! Thank you Stuart!!! I learn SO much from you! ❤️👍

I love your portrait! I.don’t understand why you don’t like it. I believe you could incorporate people into your landscapes. You are a wonderful artist ! Hope you’re feeling better soon

I found this very inspiring. You don't give yourself enough credit..you're a master. God bless!

Absolutely fantastic, and so full of character. ‘The Philosopher’!

Amazing work! Thank you Mr. Davies♥

Very interesting. It seems so easy when I see you paint. But when you get a brush in your hand, the dream stops. Perhaps you don't like it, but I do. Your old man has a real presence.

I thoroughly enjoyed this! Thank you for sharing it with us.

☺️😆😅❤ I enjoyed watching this, especially the ease with which you paint Stuart. In the beginning he definitely looked like an angry Satan incarnate. Halfway through once you put light in his eye he began to look more human, gradually evolving into a stern Socrates or other Greek philosopher. Eventually he looked almost like a kind, gentle but sad English gentleman.. maybe just needed a bowler hat. You defintely have the talent for portraits, don't stop. !🥰

Fabuloso maestro Stuart !!!!....Desde Argentina, César, saludos.

Exceedingly good, glad you chose to share the video

I have started working on a portrait of my parents using your paint and remove techniques and it is coming out staggeringly good.

A great painting. It captures the mood and looks real not posed. Very Good work. Thank you very much for sharing.

Absolutely amazing, what a fantastic talent you have

Thank you I enjoyed this and learnt a lot, nice to have something totally different now and again

I very much enjoyed this video, the portrait was excellent, a necessary step in your teachings. Thank you Stuart. I hope your back gets better soon, I know that bad feeling.

I've followed you for quite sometime. So glad to see you showing your technique for portraits. Thanks for all you do Stuart!

You are quite an artist! Wonderful!

Wow Stuart, you old dark horse you! Many artists have an HSP nature about them and a rich inner life as a result. But most importantly: it is a Natural trait despite the ruminations of others. That said, What an amazing portrait, full of character and so expertly done. I am sure that all your followers including myself, would like to see some more of this talent of yours, alongside your ongoing Landscape painting tuitions. This is a superb work, mate, imaginary or not.

Love it!

I love the result! I was inspired again!

You are a true artist

Hope you're feeling better. It was such a joy to watch this wonderful character appear - I'm glad he didn't get painted over, although the reason why is a pity. I'd love to see you paint more of your portraits.

Amazing!!! So much character

Wonderful!

It's actually pretty good! I could see him in a large religious piece. It was more than useful - thank you very much!

I keep thinking- wtf as I watch this. I've followed you for about a year...and wtf? This is as- more amazing than your skies. But your oil painting dramatic skies have influenced me beyond what I thought I could do. But really? This imaginary oil portrait is beyond words.

Its beautiful. You have really taught me so much. Thank you.

Sorry to hear about the injury, the video was really enlightening. fantastic work going through your process and explaining via video. I hope things heal up soon, and you have a nice weekend! Love the expression you caught in this gentleman too. It's a mood.

I just found your channel. I love all your paintings, how you inspire the viewer to paint without fear or fussing, and your dry sense of humor makes for such enjoyable viewing. So glad I found you.

Fabulous! You are definitely a portrait painter!

It’s excellent. You have so much talent. Love it

I have enjoyed this painting.Thank you

I really enjoyed watching the process. That is wonderful!

The master at it again 👏🏻 you as a artist never cease to amaze, mark me as impressed

Good with values, thanks for sharing!

I love this, you are so talented.

Amazing how you can "magically" do a painting!

I'm kinda honored to of been able to see your last portrait, I liked the painting and the video, good job stuart, I hope your back fixes itself soon and or kick ass meds for it untill it heals.

Awesome, thank you...

I hope you’re back gets better. Great little video.