Ryan
 

This homeless fellow in my neighborhood delights in telling you how many years, months, weeks, and days he's been clean. He sleeps in the alleys, and scrapes together enough to live on by scavenging junk. Like so many of the homeless people I like to paint, he initially wanted to refuse the $5 I offered him to pose for me.

:thumbsup: So you do these live? Looks like a watercolor!

Hello Cynthia. Yes, I do them live, and it is a watercolor. I realized after I'd posted that I should have mentioned that.

John,

Can you tell us something about your process? Do you talk with your models while you paint them? Or did he hold the smile the whole time?

Hi Alexandra,

Usually these are people who frequent my neighborhood in Los Angeles and I've got to know them to one degree or another over months and even years. I know Ryan pretty well to chat with and we did talk a bit while I painted him (about 20-25 minutes max), but as is often the case he took posing very seriously. For the most part he held the smile, which didn't seem difficult or forced to me. He's a rather cheerful, talkative guy. I'd love to paint him with an open smile, because that's very "him," but I don't think I could get him to do it. I actually did work some on this when I got into the studio, basically pushing the darker values.

What a great story...I particularly enjoy that you are approaching the challenge in watercolor!

I like what you are doing. I wonder if you could get him to pose a little longer and get some of the darker values in while you are looking at him. Have you tried some longer poses?

Thanks, Chris.

And thanks, Alexandra. It's a very good idea, and I think I could get him to pose longer. He's a genial fellow and it would certainly be worth a try. I might even be able to get him to give me two or three hours for a premier coup oil ... I'd never thought of that.

John