Carefree Abandon

My space plan diagram for my next portrait has been panned. Three friends commented that they really loved my flowers, (my carefree style). I know I'm at my best in drawing and painting when I just go at it, but doing a careful diagram to determine the positioning of the figures and to study which points they have in common before the splashing begins helps me splash with intelligence on larger, more expensive, surfaces. I diagrammed the flowers too to familiarize myself with their relationship to one another on the 36 x 36 picture plane. My free and easy style with embellishments took over when I got to the real canvas, as I'm sure it will with the women. I'm too impatient for little tight strokes; they're just not me.

Sans diagram on a small canvas (16 x 12), is how I painted Jeff Bridges yesterday. The likeness isn't quite there yet, but I'm close. a few more scribbles and wipes and I'm done.

I'm working off an terrific photo taken by Marco Grob for Time Magazine published just before the Academy awards. I liked the moodiness of the picture and Mr. Bridge's pronounced cheek bones and craggy good looks. How come men get so damn good looking when they get older and we women just go to sag? --Or is that just the camera angle? Yes, I think so.