You have to watch out for kids when you're photographing them with the intention of finding a reference photograph for a portrait. They have a phony smile they paste on as soon as they see the camera pointed at them. You see this smile in school photos a lot. It says, "Hurry up and take my picture will ya! I have something better to do" And you know the smile is phony. It's not in their eyes.The photo I'm using for this drawing, (the third attempt) isn't quit a phony smile shot. There is a wee bit of laughter in her eyes. So this drawing won't be the best of Erin, but I will give it my best nonetheless, (drawing, no matter what, is an exercise that must be exercised). At this point, I'm just laying in the likeness and the grays using the grid system. I made the photo a bit darker so you can see my construction lines.
I have the time to draw slowly this weekend. The kids have taken a vacation from their vacation. They went off to Chicago and to Six Flags. Kelly is a roller coaster enthusiasts and supposedly the Illinois Six Flags amusement park has the greatest roller coaster in the country. There's a fifty foot drop in it! I told her about her brother in-law's vertigo and how he got the unamusing malady that keeps coming back after the same sort of amusing ride at Cedar Point in Ohio more than four years ago. But I don't think she'll listen. " Can't happen to me" has been the doom of many of us on the planet.
In spite of all your warnings, I went back into the lake, but not in the boat, (which is dying a slow death due to heat exposure. Boo hoo). We decided to take a swim before they hit road. On this swim, I learned swim noodles in a lake can be as treacherous as rafts BUT YOU DON'T KNOW IT. All I did was ride it like I do my bike for an hour and a half while the kids jumped in and swam around me. Today, I’m as stiff as a board. I over cycled. I love the water, but have been a pool swimmer. There's a big difference between the volume of water in a pool and the volume of water in a lake!
The water was glorious and the kids had a great time though. JD said he was not going any further from the dock than two feet. He doesn't like to swim where he can't see the bottom and what wildlife is swimming with him. So I paddled out about thirty feet and taunted him to come get me. He did--riding his noodle of course. I doubt he's as sore as I am today. He has the blessing of being twelve.
I'm trying this again--first in HTML, not transferred to compose. In HTML, I managed to get all the copy and the photos to publish (I think), I couldn't separate the paragraphs and though the photos are in this post, they are not exactly where I wanted them to be. They are where Blogger put them. But I didn't spend a couple of hours this morning to let this go. I also lost the captions in this rendition--and the comments plus my replies. Thank you John, Katherine and Christine. I appreciated your kind words.
I admire persistence.
ReplyDeleteLovely drawing--and that's what's important.
Art is all about persistence and tenacity. That must mean I'm an artist through and through :-)
DeleteLove your family posts, Linda. If life's not about family, then it's about nothing ...art excepted! ;).... stay OUT OF THE LAKE, or your grounded!
ReplyDeleteI think I'm grounded. :-)
DeleteLife is all about family John. I used to tell Ellis that we really didn't work for blah-blah inc. The name of our company/employer is really the Roth Corporation; I'm President or CEO and he's the treasurer (he likes to have all the headaches). Everything we do everyday out in the world must serve our own. It's a hardnosed philosophy I know, but life is hardnosed. The family must come first.
You really captured the phoniness of Erin's smile, I love it! That water looks great, hard to resist! Never seen those noodles though, they look like fun!
ReplyDeleteI captured it, now I want to let it go:-).
DeleteThe water is great. It's a spring fed little lake--13 acres. No gasoline motors allowed, only electric. There's great fishing, bluegills and bass. All you have to do is drop your line in and they come to you. We throw them back. No one here wants to get into cleaning fish.
A noodle is somebody's great flotation invention. It's rolled, hollow Styrofoam-like plastic. You ride it or hook your arms around it and float on your back. You can do that for hours, but you'll feel it in the morning. I couldn't get over how stiff and achy I was when I got out of bed.
You have a lovely family, Linda - lovely and very energetic! It seems like you all have a wonderful time together. I love how your portrait of the beautiful young Erin is coming along. Her eyes are gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteThanks Susan. We're going to keep them. Their energy might kill me though. I never realized how old I was till these past days. Keeping up with a ten and twelve year old just can't be done during the "Golden Years." But I think they think we're cool. I do quip well.
DeleteEnjoy your kids' vacation from their vacation. Sounds like they're having a great time.
ReplyDeleteWe are--though last night was too quiet. We had become adjusted.
DeleteThen they left and we had to adjust once again to an empty nest.
There were no shoes to trip over, no lights left on all night, no strange clothing going around in the dryer, no fancy glasses used to make root-beer floats. The chips were even gone. I love chips. For the next few days, we're back to eating low fat, no salt, no fun.
That is beautiful drawing. You must be delighted with it.
ReplyDeleteNo Mick, I'm not liking her smile. It isn't genuine. I'll finish the drawing, but I'm not finished taking photographs of her. This one wasn't the right one for my purpose.
DeleteIn which case you are hard on yourself. If I took a micrometer to the gap across the mouth then I might agree with you, but that is not what a picture is about. If you want verisimilitude then stick with photographs. With a drawing or painting I think the questions are different. Does the image convey anything about the sitter? What are the characteristics that attract you to the model? Is there a feeling of gesture? ETC.
DeleteI still like it.
Simple solution to the mouth... If you want to change it. Follow the plumb line down from the eyes and you will see you have it too wide on right side facing. Alter it at risk because you have something real here.
ReplyDelete