Go for excellence in portraiture

[Debra Norton]

Hmmm. This thread is so long I feel guilty taking the time to read it, since I really should be across the room working on the still life I wanted to finish last night. My point, which I think Paul(?) already made, is this - do a still life. You work on the same issues - lighting, composition, drawing, value, edges and color. And it won't cost you a thing if you glean the objects from your home, or your neighbor's home.

I hear my teachers saying the same things to me about my still life paintings as they do about figures and portraits. What I'm hearing recently is this: make the forward things come forward and the back things go back. Whether the forward thing is an arm or a teapot spout makes no difference, the practice of making it hold its proper place will increase one's skill in all areas of painting.

Once I asked one of my teachers what would be a good thing to paint that would prepare me for working on skin; she told me to paint a sea shell. So I added a sea shell to my next still life; she was right, it helps.

Back to the still life.....

[Steven Sweeney]

Three months after this thread began, there are still vehement and vilifying emails and personal messages being distributed in campaigns behind the scenes, and I, having been directed back here by the inquiries of another member, decided to re-read the thread and, in particular, my posts, to see if I had indeed been too blunt or abrasive, as the indictments charge. After several hundred posts over a number of years, it admittedly is possible that one can have an off night (or a bad year) and do unintended damage.

I wouldn

[Claudemir Bonfim]

I was going to say something about still life paintings, but it is not necessary anymore, Debra mentioned some very nice points.

By the way, have you guys seen anyone painting a still life from a photo?

I don't want to offend anyone, but that would be hilarious.

[Claudemir Bonfim]

Hello there,

After my last post, I received the following link from a visitor.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...toryId=5410362

Thanks Thomas.

[Mike McCarty]

That was interesting.

"We are looking, not talking. We're not even listening. We're only looking. And that's not bad because few of us take the time to use our eyes as carefully as we use our mouths."

[Steven Sweeney]

few of us take the time to use our eyes

The whole thread, in a nutshell.

[Mari DeRuntz]

The whole thread, in a nutshell.

Amen. Funny how the flawed messengers get hanged for the message they deliver.

[Julie Deane]

Originally Posted by Steven Sweeney

If nothing else comes of this thread, it may be an appreciation of the fact that you are the artist, and you are in control of your artistic expression, and you, not a photograph, are responsible for what you put on the canvas (and for what you put on your palette, and so on).

An analogous pitfall that is heard by every teacher of fiction writing is that, well, since it "really happened!" (or, since it's in the photo), it is therefore a believable and good story. That is as false in visual as in written art.

From "Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art" by Madeleine L'Engle:

"Credibility in creativity is a hard lesson to learn, and I

[Enzie Shahmiri]

Julie,

It is interesting to me that you are going through a time of reflection as well. It seems as artists, we set these goals and as we achieve them we are never quiet satisfied and yearn for more.

Commissioned work has many benefits, but it places also many constraints on the artist. Most portrait commissions are like a nice acquaintance, you are happy to see them, you do everything in your power to make the time you spent with them a success, but when it's all over you yearn for something more fulfilling.

I yearn for a love affair, a commission that gives me sleepless nights, has me up in my studio at 6am and keeps me enthralled until the sun sets.

This search for artistic fulfillment happens only when a client is so enamored with your painting style, that price becomes no objection and you are offered the "carte blanche".

I believe the only way to reach that point and to attract such clients, is to break free from the mundane. This might involve hiring a model or bribing family members to pose in garments and staged settings, that allow the artist to be as creative as he/she wishes.

By creating such a body of work the artist is thus able to not only explore his/her artistic expression, but also push the art of portraiture to new heights.

[Julie Deane]

Hope it is possible, Enzie. I think of artists like Thomas Eakins, whose (I think) best portraits were ones of family and friends, or of Rembrandt, with no paying commissions, doing his own work, free from constraints.
I doubt I will ever get to their level, but want to do the best, most honest work I can.