WHITE TANK TOP TARGETED--with reluctance. Transporting a large painting with large areas of forever wet white can be hazardous to clothing and car trunks. A blue tank top would have been wiser for this class exercise--BUT DULL--which opens the topic of more painting friendly styling by the artist, the photographer. The Venetian Technique is about control--and it begins with what the subject wears.
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| White Tank Top drys faster on the clothes line. |
GERRY WITH A G, A FRESH FACE, was appreciated at daily free hand practice.
SARGENT REVISITED with a piece of white chalk: Beard begone!
BRUTUS, THE PIT BULL WHO LIKES TO CUDDLE was too.
SARGENT REVISITED with a piece of white chalk: Beard begone!
MICHAEL, EMERGING FROM FLASH SHADOWS SCUMBLE BY SCUMBLE
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I will never use a flash photo ever again as a reference. I will never use a flash photo ever again as a reference. I will never use a flash photo ever again as a reference. I will never use a flash photo ever again as a reference. I will never use a flash photo ever again as a reference.....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So much fine work week , so interesting, dear Linda !!!
ReplyDeleteReally beautiful portrait of Michael, also from flash photo ...
But you're the mother of Michael so you know how to overcome,
with knowledge, the lack of the photographic image.
Have nice start of your art work week!!!
Just another week with a wee bit of progress. One brushstroke after another.
DeleteNever take a photograph with flash! Good drawings and Michael is coming evermore to life.
ReplyDeleteI took this sorry photograph years ago when 'pocket' cameras came out. They had automatic flashes that you couldn't turn off. That's it for that Michael, but thanks, on to some other unlucky soul whose look fascinates me.
DeleteThat was SOOOO funny!!! I am still laughing as I write. Are you SURE about that flash photo reference??? Wet white or not, your self-portrait is looking ever-so-elegant. Keep the momentum :) And I love your drawings, and watching Michael emerge form the dark. Great post, Linda!!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you got it. I doubt whether many people have memories of having to recant some infraction they did on the blackboard a hundred times. Maybe these days it's done on their iPad or in Write? --Another light I don't like, yet used for this self portrait, is North light. I know artists swear by it, but it's cold and turns subjects blue. When I get down to color, the only warmth will be that painting you can hardly see in the background! A North facing window was the only window in the house I could get close to for a typical Venetian school set up, which I thought appropriate since the photo was to be used in the Venetian Technique class. I should have set up the photo by a lamp with warm incandescent light--the kind found I n our houses where we hang our paintings. So the portrait artist must be savvy in clothing styles and color, lighting effects, and photography as well as scumbling, glazing and value mixing and matching and let's not forget people skills. This is quite a genre I decided to take on!
DeleteComing together nicely. The caption (first image) cracks me up :-))))
ReplyDeleteIt's the truth! Thanks. It's very slow going given the pace of life these days.
DeleteGreat week's work, all geared to keeping technique in good shape. Love the tank top picture, it's a very strong image.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mick. The technique is all about control, from the photo shoot through the final color layer done with a limited palette. The project is hard work that really pays off with a thorough understanding of light, values, form and relationship. It's a long process and a real education. When I finish, I will have paid my dues.
DeleteBEAUTIFUL work here, Linda!!! Very impressive.... As for Michael...this one left me speechless...excellent!!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Hilda. I had tried my hand at Michael before and failed. This one, from that same damn horrible photograph, came out better; over the year, I did figure out how to correct horrible lighting. I took it to my Venetian Technique workshop to see what Todd had to say about how I handled the paint. He and the rest of the mates were speechless too. It seems those folks don't just paint wet into wet freehand. They kept asking what did you use? I kept telling them a tonal paint in with Burnt umbra and a brush and rag then a palette of five colors. They always use the grid and a line drawing and then do a monochrome, the long start. Strange. I think free hand painting slow alla prima is important. While a monochrome study of values is very valuable, so is drawing by eye. I do it every day. Plus it is excellent relief from the tedium of the finished monochrome. I can only work on that for an hour or two before I must get out of the studio! Besides, you can do a grid drawing and it looks accurate, when you start to paint, you find all sorts of corrections have to be made. There really aren't any lines in painting; there are edges and most of them are soft. I think the nature of edges is why most free hand painters do not care for Photorealism--the edges are too hard!
DeleteA series of fabulous portraits, you really have a great hand for sketching ! But the top portrait is my all time favorite , absolutely love the way this is painted ! Well.... Michael too could be the favorite, he looks so alive, really, really great work !!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jane. I really appreciate your kind words. It's so nice to find my 'voice' after a lifetime of 'fooling around' wondering what could have been had I chosen to make art my profession. Now I know I might have been able to make it work. Luckily, I did, however, save the best for last--even though I would advise others not to--and I am having a blast in my 'Golden Years.' Art is such a lovely gift.
DeleteA great post Linda - made me smile, made me think and delighted me - especially Michael's portrait! So full of vitality! Art is a gift and you have got it!
ReplyDeleteThanks Susan. This class has gotten me very excited--so excited, I seemd to have run off at the mouth in some of my replies. I just wish I had thought to do this exercise sooner. It's been a very satisfying experience.
DeleteOh my god! Your painting is stunning, STUNNING, STUNNING!!!! Amazing work. I'm in total awe!!! It looks finished to me, but I'm sure whatever you do to "finish" will make it even more spectacular. The time you've put in is paying off BIG TIME!!! Really. REALLY!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteYour drawings are spectacular too. Michael looks great!
Might I suggest you never use a flash photo as reference again? Hahahahahaha!
Very funny. The bitch of that photo is it's the only one I have of my three guys together as men. They live miles from one another. I think if I do do that painting of their three heads, I am going to have to go for the grotesque look. Thanks Pam for your enthusiasm. I think the reason so many contemporary painters who blog are enthralled with daily, on the spot paintings is they tried the Venetian method!
DeleteA female friend and I took up downhill skiing when we were well into my thirties. After a really nice day of skiing (and finally "getting" that you need to lean forward to ski) I lamented to my friend on the ski lift.."Maureen, I am really mad that we didn't take this up sooner...!" Her response was: "Well, we're skiing now". Like you, I sometimes wish I'd taken up art sooner too--there just is no question that it would have been the most effective route! On the other hand..."We're skiing now". I love your self portrait and it is so great that you are doing both types of portrait styles. The debate about which way is the best way will continue...but I think I am always going to favor the wet-into-wet. Love both, though...waiting to see the next phase!
ReplyDeleteBoth methods end up being wet into wet. There is a point, however, in direct painting when the painting needs to dry to go on. I think the instructor needs to rethink the size he advocates. It is too large to expect a first timer to finish the monochrome and then finish the color layer. I started a smaller one this week--a second attempt at a previous portrait subject. It has lots of skin tones. That's the area I could use some mentoring. I plan on taking that one to class next week, after I've finished the monochrome in my studio. The large self portrait, I'll finish on my own over the next months. It's really quite the education! --I would never have chosen to be a painter back then. I was a sculptor, a builder, a designer. I followed that path and it was satisfying. Now, I'm following up with what I did in my spare time. Things worked out fine. No regrets. It's important to keep striving, satisfying one's curiosity, growing. Skiing is great fun. I did that too--young. Now I cycle--it's like riding a bike. :-))
ReplyDelete