Painting portraits from life
 

Tomorrow I start my first portrait from "life". These forum topics started at the perfect time; thank you Cynthia (and whomever else was involved)! This will also be my first oil, so I'll be jumping in with both feet. It's not a commission so if I fail miserably the world won't come to an end.

As for a philosophy, I strongly believe that drawing and painting from life is the only way to learn to "see". I will be taking photos but they will be for reference only, to help me find my mistakes. I'm fortunate in that my model is my next door neighbor. I wanted to paint a woman first (I've done a lot of men lately), and she is available to pose, and has a beautiful face. The most startling eyes I've ever seen, pale, pale, grey green with a dark ring.

I'm going to try to utilize all I've learned here and do things in some kind of logical order, sketches, color studies, etc. I can't wait to start and hope to be posting soon.

Jean

Good for you, Jean! I have several victims in mind myself, but have had to rebuild and paint our rotted mailbox, then paint a bathroom and a bedroom. But I'm working on my brush stroke! :D

Jean:

I am sure folks would love to see and hear about your preliminary prep work in the Conceptualizing the Portrait Topic. Good luck with it and we will be pulling for you. :)

Concept
 

Thanks Michael and Doreen. I tried posting under the Concepts thread but lost my connection (don't know what happened). I'll have to rewrite and post later as I have an appointment with my VICTIM.

Best laid plans of mice and men
 

Aft gang aglee! (oft go awry). Well...my model got sick, I went to spine Doc for some back pain and ended up in a spine brace for a month and needing more x-rays, so.... I'm getting used to life with little spine moblity. Just thought I'd touch base with all. I hope to be painting soon, and will still be reading posts.

Jean

I got a chuckle out of this. You are certainly not alone when you say that you can only "see" by looking at a live model, but why is it so much easier for most of us to find our mistakes by looking at a photograph?

Those who insist that the only way to draw or paint is directly "from life" ignore how useful a tool photography can be. Not learning to use a camera can actually be a handicap for a beginner and slow down the learning process.

:) Take pictures, don't apologize for it and don't feel guilty that you're doing "something wrong."

Life
 

Okay Karin, I did. They're in the photo resource critique section. And I feel GUILTY. But I also sketched to assuage my guilt. May I get fifty lashes with a wet noodle. Seriously, I am having problems with this whole photography thing. But I'll keep reading and drawing and painting and maybe the whole thing will work itself out.