Arianne
 

I finished this one a few weeks ago - it's a present for Arianne's grandfather.... I'm not very happy with this one, it was a pretty tedious affair finishing it. I really didn't like the paper surface, it was too smooth - not enough tooth, etc.

I've known Arianne since she was about 12. She's a stunningly beautiful young lady now at 20 years of age. I did a charcoal drawing of her when she was 15 - I'm not sure if I ever posted it here - if I can find it, I'll post it in this thread. I'm,now doing a painting of her, a 3/4 figurative work - kind of ambitious for me as I have never done a figurative painting before - and I'm anxious to see how it turns out.

Anyway...Charcoal on thinted paper w/ white highlights; approx 16" X 20"

This one is a bit wierd, but it was a while ago when I was just getting back into working representationally. It's interesting for me to see the difference in my work between then and now - and the difference in Arianne.

David,

Both are beautiful. Though you've progressed, I can see the beginnings of your particular vision in the first drawing. Both show your sincerity, insightfulness, and appreciation of the person you are drawing. Yes, she's a very attractive young woman, but she's not just a pretty face. You can see into her eyes and get a feeling for who she is. I feel the same way about your drawings of your students. Now I can't wait to see the painting!

David,

I like both paintings as well, although the last one you did shows your full command of your skills. It is great that you had the opportunity to paint Arianne at different stages of her life.

Wow!
 

David,

I have to agree with Alex and Enzie that you have always been an unusually fabulous and insightful artist, and that you have come into full fruition of yout talents now. Both Ariannes are exemplary, but your new one is particularly stunning in her pose (despite your frustrations with the paper)! Kudos and congratuations on this success!

Garth

David--

These are great...I especially appreciate the attitude of perfect restraint in your use of the white accents.

Great work!

These are beautifully handled, David I especially like the carefully tousled hair in the most recent version, it's so sensitively rendered.

Thank you all so much!

After doing this one I've been musing on...beauty - feminine beauty in particular. I've been thinking that there is a generally accepted notion of beauty that is cultural, contemporary - particular to a certain time or place. But as an artist, I'm finding that there is another kind of beauty - a beauty that is timeless, classical (and the question here is: is this a case of us artists being influenced by what went before, the paintings of bygone eras depicting what was then fashionable beauty? - or is there a "timeless" element that past artists were revealing?) I think most people would say Arianne is an exceptionally beautiful young lady - she could be a successful model if she wanted to - and yet, when I was doing her portrait, I wasn't so inspired in the process of rendering her face. Conversely, there have been other women/girls I have drawn/painted who, though they would probably not be considered a great beauty by many, they have got something...I'm thinking of Diana - in real life, I'm sure many would say she's attractive, but not gorgeous - yet I was so inspired in doing her portrait ....was it a different kind of beauty, or a hidden beauty somehow...? I don't know...

Does any of this make sense? Do you experience this?

David

Your work is always a pleasure to see, David. I can understand the tedious part, but again, you have pulled off a very engaging portrait of a beautiful young woman.

Jean

These are divine David! I especially like the first one.
I'm always a bit nervous when doing beautiful people - I always have that feeling that I won't be able to do them justice. You seem to have no problem with that!

Jean, thank you. I have been mulling lately on the tedium I sometimes experience in doing these pieces, namely...if a drawing or painting is tedious in its creation - does it follow that, for the viewer, it is somehow tedious to look at? It may not be true in every case, but there may be some truth there...I wonder how often Sargent got bogged down in an area of a painting he found "tedious"...

Heidi, thanks! Yeah, my concerns with doing obviously beautiful - or glamorous looking -subjects aren't so much about doing them justice, but are rather all about ending up with the piece looking like an illustration from some fashion magazine. To raise it to the level of "art"....there are different kinds of beauty (less obvious) that I am far more comfortable with.

Garth hit the nail on the head when describing you: These are both terrific.

As to the ideal of feminine beauty, sometimes it truly is in the eye of the beholder.

Hello David, apart from your subject, the beauty lies in the fact that this is charcoal on paper. It takes time to reach this level of controlling the the black dust. Beautiful!

I've also been fighting with the tedious nature of some of my art. In your case the tendrils of hair look to be effortless, and her skin texture is flawless, the fabric is beautifully draped. I believe that most viewers will simply be stunned by the perfection, like Michaelangelo's "David". But, for the artist it may be a different story. At times I want to have a huge canvas next to me so I can just throw paint on, and paint with my whole body! (No, not like Farrah Fawcet, who rolled around on the canvas nude).

I wonder if Sargent ever wrote about his struggles also, and this may be an interesting topic for another thread.

Jean

David,

Both drawings are are in a class of their own. Well done! Let me share with you what I see when I work. When setting up a pose for a portrait one of the things I do is ask the person to turn their head ever so slowly from one direction to another. When doing this I usually find, not always, that there is a moment that really appeals to my visual and senses. As you well know setting the pose just right is part of the game.

When drawing the shapes and lines one gets so familiar with what one sees that a slight deviation than what is there becomes quite evident. Each developing stage reveals special moments for me especially as the crown is the finishing stage. If in the finish I do not see, in my drawing or painting, something that one can reach-out and touch than I have failed. Don't get me wrong I feel the same way about my line drawings. Sketches are different for me, they are my source of information and or shape and value study.

I think one can see beauty all around us especially in the face of man/woman. Like you mentioned a person does not need to be something extra in beauty to be beautiful but what I joy for a artist when we see it, capture and relate it for others to see. What a joy!! I'm so glad that you can see it David! Many will appreciate what you convey through your art.

Wishing you all the best!

Michele, you are too kind...really!

Grethe, thanks! Charcoal really is a wonderful medium, the range of values, the deep rich black than you can get, and the soft passages - I just love it.

Jean, thanks for saying these things, but, with this one, I now just see the flaws, and maybe a few nice passages. And as for Farrah Fawcett - I would be really interested in seeing her painting process - her technique in applying the paint - perhaps more so than the finished painting itself. :thumbsup:

Mischa, you put these sentiments so well...What a joy indeed! We are so fortunate, I really feel it as quite a high calling that has come to us portrait artists: to call attention to the beauty ( and frailty, vulnerability, strength, weakness, pain, love...) inherent in each person we portray; to lift the veil slightly to reveal the innate excellence and overpowering beauty of the human reality - and not through dialog or argument, but by pushing colored pigments around on a flat surface! How wonderful!! By our concentrated and penetrating gaze upon our subject, and by repeating the gaze, over and over, and finding our own unique ways of capturing those fleeting moments in paint, we can somehow reveal - or at least intimate - something of the eternal, profound mystery that is all of us. And for the viewer - to encourage this type of reflection, if only briefly - what a gift we give to the world. And - if that weren't enough - to be part of such a rich heritage - to follow in the footsteps of Raphael, Rembrandt, Bouguereau, Sargent, and all the great Masters who preceded us...my God, what a noble profession!

David