Painting the Human Spirit in Oils with David Vegt | Beyond The Face

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Painting the Human Spirit in Oils with David Vegt - Beyond The Face

This January, we're exploring the world of portraiture in our series "Beyond The Face."

Portraiture asks us to see beyond the surface and explore what it means to truly see ourselves, others, and the spaces we inhabit.

Through the human form, we discover new perspectives not in subject, but in the act of creating.

By experimenting with how we capture the figure through different materials, approaches, and perspectives, we break the boundary between form and meaning.

In this installment, we speak with artist David Vegt to learn about painting the human spirit with oils.

Artist Q&A with David Vegt

What materials do you use for your portrait work, and how do they influence your process?

Paints

I work exclusively with oil paints for their flexibility and versatility, favoring brands like Gamblin for their consistent flow, along with Winton, and others.

Brushes

For brushes, I use a mix of high-quality options from independent art stores. Over time, I’ve become less particular about brush brands as long as they hold paint well and clean easily.

Supports

For supports, I’ve transitioned from birch panels to aluminum panels, which provide a stiff surface ideal for precise brushwork. Prepping these panels with sanding and Gesso allows me to achieve a smooth surface for detailed mark-making or leave subtle grooves that emulate a linen texture, adding natural depth to my work. These choices help me maintain control while emphasizing texture and vibrancy in my portraits.

Can you discuss a specific instance where the choice of a particular material significantly impacted the outcome of a portrait?

A material I use that significantly and consistently affects my paintings is a varnish called Gamvar gloss.

It captures the richness of the values and colours that can sometimes sink into the Gesso. This varnish also leaves the painting looking freshly finished with the paint still wet.

It also protects the painting from scratches and light wear and tear and should only be applied once the painting is completely dry.

Have you experimented with unconventional materials in your portrait work? If so, what drove you to explore those options, and what were the results?

Not really, other than trying a few different mediums such as Liquin, or a 50/50 mix of Gamsol and linseed oil.

I use safflower oil alkyd which keeps the paint a little glossier and dries a little faster, especially when using oils like titanium white which are slow to dry.

What have you discovered about your artistic process through the use of certain materials, and how has that shaped your approach to portraiture?

I paint in layers using one or two colours (burnt sienna mixed with ultramarine blue and a little Gamsol) to draw the initial composition. Then in later layers, I apply paint directly from the tubes mixed on my palette to create more details.

The aim is to have thicker lighter colours than the darker colours to create form in the subjects of my portraits.

Are there any materials that you find particularly challenging to work with in portraiture? How do you overcome these challenges, and what impact does it have on the final aesthetic of your work?

The only thing I struggle with is when I have darker oils that really sink into the Gesso.

They lose some of their darker values and lustre. To solve this, I use a technique called ‘oiling out’. I use some safflower alkyd medium and am able to bring the lustre back into the painting.This helps tremendously, as I am able to see the right values and colours for forthcoming layers.

David Vegt in studio.

How do you balance the technical demands of certain materials with the expressive goals you have for your portraits?

In portraiture, I am very particular about getting the correct proportions and smaller details, so I’ll use a mix of brush sizes to accomplish that.

Near the end of a process, I’ll purposefully use bigger brushes to clean up unnecessary small brush strokes to freshen up the portrait if it’s been bogged down by a million overly small strokes. This approach creates a more dynamic effect using bigger brush strokes at the end of a painting.

Do you consider the sustainability or ethical implications of the materials you use? If so, how does this influence your material choices in creating portraits?

Linseed Oil and Walnut Oil are natural products vs acrylic which is made completely out of plastic, so from an environmental perspective, I think oils are superior, being plant-based.

That said, by using archival aluminum panels, and keeping to the fat-over-lean rule with oils, I also have a high level of confidence that they will last for a very long time without deteriorating if cared for, so that one of my paintings could be passed on from family member to family member for generations if they wished to.

In what ways do the material aspects of your work connect to the themes or messages you’re trying to convey in your portraits?

Oil painting has an extensive, traditional history, specifically in portraiture, and I am invested in staying connected to its lineage of portrait painters. I am endlessly inspired and awed by Raphael, Rembrandt, Manet, Sargent, Velasquez and so many more.

It struck me just the other day that even though Raphael lived over four hundred years ago, and Rembrandt has been gone for over three hundred, John Singer Sargent died just fifty one years before I was born. I think painting in the traditional-realistic style is far from dead today, as one can clearly see by looking on Instagram or any other social media platform.

I also think that it is still one of the best ways of capturing the everyday moments and elevating them to be seen for their significance in life today.

Mrs. Charles Deering by John Singer Sargent

John Singer Sargent. Mrs. Charles Deering (Marion Denison Whipple), 1888. The Art Institute of Chicago.

David Vegt

Born and raised in Vernon, British Columbia, David Vegt currently resides in Cumberland in the beautiful Comox Valley on Vancouver Island.

Painting primarily on birch panel with oil paint, David is strongly influenced by traditional painters such as Eduard Manet, Ilya Repin, John Singer Sargeant, and Rembrandt van Rijn.

Visit David Vegt's Website

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