Planning a Painting Party

As I continue to work on this newest portrait of Sam (I call her that in my head...hope you don't object, Samanda!) I have been thinking more about painting from life rather than my photo references. She has offered now to pose during her break from classes at U Vic in April and is willing to sit for a couple of days. A great opportunity I can't selfishly keep to myself so I have invited a few of my artist friends to come up and paint also. So far two have accepted the invitation and are excited about it. When we get together for our drawing group the sessions are only a couple of hours and the model changes pose frequently. This is a chance to concentrate on one pose for many hours over two days. But being a model is no easy job -  I posed for portrait classes to earn money as a student a couple of times and felt it was almost torture! The trick is to find an interesting pose that won't tire out the model too much and make sure there are breaks every half hour or so. I think the breaks are good for the painter too because it brings one out of concentrated revery which may or may not be pulling the work in a direction that isn't what one wants. I like to reconsider what I've done so far and decide if that is the way to continue or if something new is required. I don't make preliminary sketches usually when working from life. I take a moment to visualize the subject on the canvas and then begin to draw, blocking in dark and light values as I go, seeking the relationship of shapes rather than the details. I may use a thinned acrylic earth tone like Raw Umber to do this so I don't have to wait to start painting over it...a good idea when time is limited. 

The dress I have chosen for Samanda to wear for the portrait session is a skirt and top that I bought when I was a young bride in 1974, made in India. The material is a hand dyed cotton gauze (lined skirt), has a gold (real!) stamped pattern all over it and red binding between the seams in the skirt. I was a size two (yes really!) in those days (size 8 now, so not too terrible for a post menopausal lady). I think Samanda will fit into it as she is petite and slender. Now is when I wish I had one of those "fainting" style couches to pose her on, but I'll figure something  out. See I'm getting excited about this already! I am picturing something great to wrap around her hair - keep the background very simple or lots of pattern? I can see so many possibilities.

Probably a simple backdrop this time to emphasize the pattern of her dress, (plus we will only have two days to work).  Bare feet I think. The beauty of the plain, nature-made human body draped in a man-made beautiful dress...neither outshining the other, except for the face of the model which, to me, is always the height of interest.  I frequently paint my models with bare feet - I think feet are beautiful.  

This painting party is going to great...good friends, good food, good music, great model, and time to think of nothing but the painting. Two days will be wonderful but a week would be better. Better not push my luck.

A Link From a Friend

     
     Today a friend sent me a link to a utube video that was so inspirational I decided I needed to share it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

     It is so easy to be caught up in day to day living that we cease to see that perhaps we aren't  really living as our heart would dictate. I was very happy to be reminded of this and to recall the events in my own life that were cross roads needing my attention and decision. Some worked out better than others but on the whole I am happy to say that my direction has turned out, so far, to be correct for me. Money and fame are not too important to me, fortunately, so I have concentrated on finding a lifestyle that would ease my inborn tendency to worry and fret, to calm the storms I sometimes am caught up in, and bring some joy to my heart, and I hope some joy to others as well.  Being of good cheer in ourselves is a balm for those around us. 
I am by no means a PollyAnna - that could get old really fast - and I tend to get on soapboxes at times, probably to the annoyance of some, but I mean well:-)  Here's to your good cheer, your health, and your successful trip to your heart's desires.


      I am finding myself wondering what this painting is about and if I really want to be doing it  but since I dislike unfinished projects I am persevering. Thinking about letting Samanda's parents have this as a thank you for the time she has given so freely in posing. I have a bigger project in mind but don't know if I have the stamina to see it through. Oh yeah, that is what this painting is about - a bit of procrastination and avoidance. I'm good at that.

Values and Seeing

Above, blocking in hues and values over underpainting
Below, blending those hues, cleaning up edges

Returning to the current painting I'm working on I realized yet again that unless I work intuitively the results are less than pleasing. Blending that balance of things I've learned, technically, over the years with just allowing my hand to flow almost independently of my thinking is always the biggest challenge. Looking at the photo reference and recalling the
actual presence of the model in front of me helps in seeing those values and hues as more than just tones on photo paper.  An artist whose work I much admire and whose ethic I appreciate also, Sharon Knettell, http://sharonknettell.blogspot.com, writes extensively about working from life rather than photo references and how it is so much more meaningful. I know exactly what she means. I will always prefer to work from life. I will also always end up with some photo reference to work from also...I imagine. Some issues are contentious. We all have our own ideas about what's best. I do draw the line at using someone else's photo reference. I take my own unless there is absolutely no way around it. Like a commission to paint the portrait of someone deceased. Or including some exotic animal or plant I have no way of ever seeing in the flesh. When I was a commercial illustrator, and before the advent of the internet, I had compiled, starting at age 14, a huge reference file (known as a "morgue") which I added to constantly, cutting up magazines and garnering photocopies from library files. I had to do this since the deadlines were inhuman often and I had no time to dither with the ethics of finding the "source" to work from in life. I learned also how to use my camera as sketching tool and it served me well. Everyone and everything was potential model material!  (Ask my son).
Now that I paint mostly for myself and do not take illustration work and very few portrait jobs I can be pickier about reference. It is true that too many artists have come to rely almost exclusively on photos to work from and have little or no experience working from life. Is this art or is it craft? Is there a difference? My advise is to draw and paint from life whenever possible. There is no other way to truly hone your skills and be authentic in your work. I need to take my own advise more seriously. I am also now vegan and I thought that leap would be hard...but it hasn't been at all!  I want the joy back that I ONLY truly feel when working from life. Copying the marks on a photo just doesn't have the same zing to it. Thanks to Sharon for helping me to get my priorities straight. Read her blog. You might be annoyed, even angered a bit, but you won't be sorry.

Must be my week!

I am very pleased to have discovered that both of my entries into two shows have received awards. The "Heather with Peonies" in the Comox Valley Art Gallery show and "To Tell a
Story" in the Campbell River Art Gallery show.  I had hoped to go to at least one of the openings last night but the weather turned bad and I was nervous to take the hour or more trip down there through the mountains in the dark and falling snow. The shows are just local but I am still very happy about the recognition. Both galleries are known for showing wonderful and well known artists from across N. America so the venues are quite good. Incentive to keep plugging away!  My next door neighbor, Debbie Reusch http://debbiereusch.blogspot.com braved the snow, ice and dark two lane mountain road to go to the opening in Campbell River and let me know this morning about my winning and award. Thank you Debbie!  My dear friend, Lyndia Terre www.lyndia-terre.com also won awards at both of these shows. She lives three hours south and came up to the Comox opening in very bad weather! She told me she shouted "YAY" when my name was announced and everyone there turned and stared at her!
It is good to have fans:-)

Over the Underpaint

I am painting without concern for "accuracy" here. Most of the underpainting is now done so once it dries it is time to building up the layers and tweaking as I go. The light cast a semi
greenish tone to her skin, especially being next to apple leaves so right now she is looking like something from the undead.  And good news, Samanda has agreed to sit for a from life painting this summer when she has some time.  I can think about a full figure piece I think and a great outfit.  Painting from life is much more energizing than from photos.
Two shows are opening next week that I am in. Receptions are both on the same evening. If the weather is ok I'll try for the Campbell River opening. I quite often stay home for these things but my little self promotion angel/demon is whispering in my ear that staying home means less interest in who did my stuff and therefore less danger of becoming successful and maybe making a bit of cash. And we all know what success could mean...you are expected to do it again! That's way too much pressure...

Another Face Behind Leaves

Faces surrounded by leaves, flowers, etc. seems to be a theme I keep returning to. With some time I am sure I could come up with some philosophic and psychological reasons for why I do.  The underlying motivations don't really interest me though so I push on and just try to keep my hand in. I am mulling over some other things I might paint but haven't formed those ideas enough to make that happen so I began this today as a sort of exercise.  Trying to treat the photo reference as if is a subject actually in front of me, not on a two dimensional surface. No careful drawing or variations on composition, just starting right in on canvas which is what I do when I work from life.  My Torrit Grey underpainting was not totally dry in a few places which I didn't realize until I started drawing with the Burnt Umber.  Makes for a muddy start but I can fix that. I WILL have to let this thoroughly dry first though. I am including part of another photo I took at this session where her hand is holding the branch. I want to avoid the "floating head" syndrome. This may end up going nowhere.

Working From Life

               life sketch of Heather, 1/2 hour    pastel   14"x18"

There is nothing I enjoy more than working from life. If all I ever wanted to do was paint or draw still life & landscapes this would not be a problem but I was born seemingly preprogramed to be mainly interested in the human face and form and they are my favorite subject to work with. This presents the problem of finding models. Who is willing to pose endlessly for hours and days, maybe weeks or months? Professional models will. For money. It adds up to a lot of money which I don't possess.  I have already used up the good graces of many friends and family members by making them pose and most find excuses not to. Plus now I live in the middle of nowhere so I don't even see many people I can even ask in the first place. Samanda has been great but her time is limited up here so I took photos. Children like to pose, or think they like to until they actually have to, then they get squirmy. So I take photos.
People who commission me for portraits and have the money to pay for them do not have the time to pose, so I take photos. Working from photos, while ok and perfectly valid, is just not the same as working from life. The living, breathing person has an essence that cannot be captured in a photo. The skin tones look different, the movement of the diaphragm causes subtle changes in the pose which can be painted in over time and add a life to the image that a static photo does not possess. It is one reason why life drawing sessions are so valuable. I have considered the use of mannikins but they are stiff and can't be placed in many of the poses that a living person can manage. I have actually been thinking about making a soft sculpture mannikin to try, which I could pose and drape and light but I suspect the resulting work would only look like a soft sculpture mannikin posed and draped and lit.  I'm afraid it has to be the real thing.  I bet if some of you lived near me you'd do it.  My husband has already said "No."