[Mari DeRuntz]

I know this should be obvious to many of you, but this was my workshop experience. Because of the size of our group, we had two models. I chose the blond diva, and on day one we warmed up by drawing charcoal quick life studies from both models.

Maybe because of first day jitters, maybe because I didn't know anything about the blond model, I struggled with that drawing. I had driven the other model up from Tampa, and coincidentally did not have any trouble at all nailing her likeness.

Lunch break came, and a small group of us went out for pizza, including the blond model. Over the course of lunch, I listened to her talk about herself, her children, her passion for her work, her passion for classes she took in college, all things that more clearly fleshed out her persona.

That night in my sketchbook, I did some thumbnails (the next day we were to start the oil painting), and I also took 15 minutes to freewrite what I knew about her. This was a very useful exercise.

I will post the painting eventually; I do want to bring it to as high a degree of finish as I can so it's not appropriate yet. But of all the portraits in the workshop, mine captured a likeness that none of the others had. I'm convinced that a portrait captures an emotional connection to a person. If we don't as artists have that connection, it shows in the painting.

Any thoughts?