Nothing fascinates me more as an artist than painting from a live model. There is an unspoken dialogue that happens between model and artist, the model expressing emotion, the artist trying to capture and translate that emotion on paper or canvas.

Painting from life is much different than painting from a reference photo. People are not static like photographs. Over the course of a model session, the model may shift slightly, the lighting may change, and at the end of the session, the reference has gone home. Working from life, however, affords an artist a richness of detail and emotion that is difficult to capture from photographs, so while it is a great challenge, it is worth the effort and time.

"36 Heads" is a project I hope to complete in one year- painting 36 portraits from life.

Many artists show only their best art to the public. This blog is an attempt to offer a glimpse into the artistic process itself. Some portraits will be successful, many will not. I do not touch up the art after the model session is over- the artwork is taken home and photographed without adding finishing touches.

So many things come into play as to why some sessions are a success, others not. The atmosphere of the session, my energy level that day, even the mood of the model, these things and many more affect the final painting. Sometimes I experiment with different materials, which leads to different results.

The project began on July 26, 2011. On to the heads...



Wednesday, September 7, 2011

"36 Heads", portrait #3






















August 9, 2011, Farrah
Soft pastel on Canson Mi-Teintes
12"x16"

Third pose outdoors.  I was in the sun for the first half of the pose and was not as comfortable as the previous two weeks.  However, painting this one was a completely different experience because just a few days before, I received a 60 piece Terry Ludwig pastel set.  These pastels are much softer than the Rembrandts I was using.  Although not impossible, I found them a bit difficult to work with on the Canson Mi-teintes paper, I'm curious how they would respond on sanded paper.  The model that day was moving, I think because of the hat- eyes went from exposed to covered by the hat- and back to exposed- so I captured what I saw in one moment.  Wish I had more time to devlop the eyes, but left them undefined since I couldn't get a good view for a long enough period.  I found her mouth difficult to capture, and the hair was a black mass under the hat that was difficult to define well in this painting.  Need to work on those things, but think her neck is one of the better ones I've done, and love that Unison BV4 on this.  Still struggling with clothing.  This one was painted with Terry Ludwig pastels (the 60 piece Maggie Price Values set), about a half dozen Unison pastels and the rough side of Canson Mi-tientes, felt gray color.   I'm in a broken color phase right now and enjoying the rough side of Canson for that reason.
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