Blake Gopnik
 

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Sharon,

Your posting reminded me of a movie character (In Network?) whose famous line was, "I'm mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore!" I had a mental picture of you foaming at the mouth with steam coming out of your ears as you wrote your post. Whew! This issue must be popping your blood pressure through the roof.

Here are some suggestions in reply to your post:

1 - Get our jury committee to tighten the juried member approval requirements

2 - Don't respond to member's posts that you don't consider professional or skilled enough.

3 - Work at your own high standards and just let artists whose work is not up to them slide by. It is not worth your physical, mental or emotional health to try and reform the entire group of artists that inhabit this forum. (Besides, it just won't happen!)

Hi Sharon,

Here's a little film to show you how hard I've been working. The names were changed to protect the pathetic.


http://www.undergroundfilm.org/films...ar&wid=1028027

Great little film! Thanks for posting the link.

Thanks Michele. I can't tell you how often I stumble upon these nuggets on the web just as they apply to something current in my life.

Jeff, I loved the film, too. Thanks for posting it. I needed a laugh. I like your perspective.

Coming late to the discussion, I would like to join in the effort to educate the art of portraiture as I see it. Today's technology allows us the freedom from having our clients sit for our portraits.

At the same time it lends itself to our taking shortcuts.

It is our professional duty to forgo the temptations of the technology and pursue the tried and true way of painting from life and drawing from life.

This was one of the forst pieces of advice I received when I joined this site and I have personally and proffessionally benefited from it.

My efforts can be summed up in a simple statement, I embark on the journey to create art first and a portrait second. Studying life can aid us in interpreting what is happening in a photograph.

I feel it is important to urge other serious portrait artists to grasp this goal. We can't force anyone how to paint, we can only instruct. Everyone's free to make their own choice. Let us take the high road.

PS I am not always successful but I always try my best.

[Since most of the posts leading up to this one have been mysteriously purged over time, there's little point in leaving the original of this one.

8-28-06]

Thanks for your perspective, Steven.

It appears there's been some heavy editing in this thread, which is making it a little difficult to follow now.

Whilst some members might not appreciate Sharon's comments, it certainly appears to me that they come from a real and honest concern for both the quality of the forum and for the quality of contemporary portraiture as a whole. People who are willing to stick their necks out and take the heat for the greater good are few and far between, and, considering myself a beginner, I for one appreciate Sharon's call to arms.

Sometimes the advice we least like to hear is the advice we need the most. In the interests of balance, I'm glad Sharon has the guts to post her views here.

Was this the thread that had Sharon and others debating about life painting? Where did her posts go? I enjoyed reading them and returned for a re-read -something I never ever do. Anyway, her views struck me as pretty valid and I hope they can be re-posted.

Hi Chris,

You might be thinking of this thread:

http://forum.portraitartist.com/showthread.php?t=6993

Yes, that was the thread I was thinking of. Thanks for the link.

Spoonful of sugar
 

It seems to me that criticisms or critiques should be specific and constructive. This was neither. Your generalizations and negativity do not sell your expertise very well.

It would be better if you address people personally and specifically, rather than generally lambast people, websites and practices at large. It might help if you threw in a little encouragement now and then.

I don't know about you, but I still do this for fun, and I am a professional.

What shall I assume, that your negative generallities included me and my work and website? Why should I not think that? You were not specific.

Quite right.