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...



Thursday, September 15, 2011

"36 Heads", portrait #9





















September 13, 2011, David
Terry Ludwig and Unison Soft Pastels on PastelMat
12"x16


David sat for 3 hours, with breaks every 20 minutes.  I spent a little more time on this portrait measuring facial feature placement, and think the extra time paid off.  This portrait was another fun one to paint- loved painting the hat, and David's ruddy complexion.  This was my first time painting a beard.  I rather liked it because I had trouble getting his lip shape correct, so used the beard to hide the imperfections.  The beard also "framed" his face well, making it easier to place his features.  I'm not happy with the shirt- but it's not anything like what he was wearing- he was wearing a patterned black, gray and white shirt, which was impossible for me to paint, so I decided to just make it a green-gray color.  This one was painted with a few Unison soft pastels for the intial layers for the face and hat, then Terry Ludwig for the rest.  The shirt was painted only with Unisons- I don't have any grays in the Terry Ludwig line yet, must pick some of those up.  I'm so thrilled with the PastelMat used in the the last two portraits, and plan on using this paper almost exclusively in the near future.  Got home and realized the nose doesn't look right- his left nostril (on our right) wasn't showing from where I was standing, but there should be some indication of a nostril- it looks funny without it.  This is an area that I have trouble with- making things up that I don't see- using artistic licence to improve a painting...
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