The Wall Of Leonard Cohen

Here's a photo and a video of a recent oil painting of Leonard Cohen, by me, for my flatmate's 'Wall of Leonard Cohen'.

I finished Leonard a couple of weeks back, but decided to let the piece 'rest' before taking another look at him with fresh eyes to see if I wanted to do any more work on him.

From previous 'disasters', i've learnt that now as soon as I have that 'almost finished' feeling, I should stop, and leave the painting for a few days, or even a couple of months - trying not to look at it too much

Leonard Cohen, 16" x 12", David Brodie

I think that when we are painting, we can sometimes be too close to the canvas and we get caught up in the minutiae, concentrating on one tiny fleck where the light hits rather than standing back and seeing the piece as a whole.

It's like when you look at a Sargent painting - you're supposed to stand a few feet back and admire the full thing, because when you get up too close, the brushwork gets oh so rough.

This piece has joined the 'Wall Of Cohen'. Although i'm a fan of Leonard Cohen myself, and try to strum his songs on my guitar, it's my flatmate who's been a fan for over 40 years.

This makes it easy for birthdays, Christmas etc, as I know exactly what to paint or illustrate for him.

This particular painting is based on a TV interview away back in the day, and it's the first time my flatmate can recall seeing Leonard Cohen wearing his fedora, which he was rarely seen without, when performing in later years.

Because the interview image was rather degraded and fuzzy, I had to rely on my 'knowledge' of Leonard's face - I don't want to sound too 'artsy', but it was more the feeling or 'spirit' of the much younger Cohen which I was trying to evoke and so I tended to rely on my own intuition when moving the brush rather than commit slavishly to the still image and producing a direct copy.

I hope you like it, and that you are having a creative day too.

Speak soon, 

​Davy