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John Zeissig · 11-11-2002, 10:07 PM

Hello Lon,

I was following the thread in the Cafe section where you were discussing your working methods and so forth. I had a bunch of questions that I wanted to ask, but I never got around to posting them. Then I saw this post about your forthcoming book, so maybe I can get my answers by buying the book.

For at least forty years I've been wanting to try quick charcoal or pencil portraits in public. So why didn't I just go out and do 'em? I don't know. When I was in college I used to hang around with a guy who did these in pencil all the time. We'd go out to a bar, for example, and he'd just pull out his little sketchbook (or even take a paper napkin) and start drawing some girl he'd taken a fancy to. Before long someone would notice what he was doing and people would start looking, Sooner or later, either the girl would notice what he was doing, or somebody would tip her off, and she'd come over for a look. It was better than any pick-up line ever invented. 100% success ratio, and he never had to say a word. I guess I never tried it back then because it was his thing and I'd have felt like I was ripping off his "intellectual property".

The days are long gone when I could use such a skill for those purposes, but I'm still drawn to the idea. A couple of years ago I tried it at an outdoor party at an art gallery owner's home, but I was way too slow; everybody was moving around by the swimming pool etc. Then a year ago I started doing oil portraits. For my first one my subject was a young woman with whom I shared a 15 min. ferry commute across the San Francisco bay. I thought I'd sketch her during the ferry ride and work on the sketches from memory, and eventually get her to sit for me during the oil painting phase. That's more or less the way it went, except that I also supplemented things with photos since her schedule made it difficult to get her sometimes when I really needed to paint; but at least I had an idea of the pose I wanted by that time.

Trying to sketch on the ferry was excruciating for me. When people started looking over my shoulder I'd start sweating, and any questions or comments made me actually flinch. But it did result in a little commission job from one of the kibitzers. It had to be done from a B/W photo because that's the way they wanted it. Nevertheless, I talked them into upgrading($) to a little watercolor and they loved it. I think that if I could get enough down on paper really quickly I would cool down by the time I attracted attention and feel more confident. I'm probably going to suffer from the stage fright for a while anyway, but If I can get practiced and get a fast start at least it won't be life threatening.

So consider this a sale. If you're selling direct how can I order from you? Or is the book only going to be in bookstores? It wasn't clear to me from your post. If you're keeping a mailing list put me on it, please.

Thanks

11-11-2002, 10:07 PM	#3
John Zeissig Associate Member Joined: Sep 2002 Location: Alameda, CA Posts: 212	Hello Lon, I was following the thread in the Cafe section where you were discussing your working methods and so forth. I had a bunch of questions that I wanted to ask, but I never got around to posting them. Then I saw this post about your forthcoming book, so maybe I can get my answers by buying the book. For at least forty years I've been wanting to try quick charcoal or pencil portraits in public. So why didn't I just go out and do 'em? I don't know. When I was in college I used to hang around with a guy who did these in pencil all the time. We'd go out to a bar, for example, and he'd just pull out his little sketchbook (or even take a paper napkin) and start drawing some girl he'd taken a fancy to. Before long someone would notice what he was doing and people would start looking, Sooner or later, either the girl would notice what he was doing, or somebody would tip her off, and she'd come over for a look. It was better than any pick-up line ever invented. 100% success ratio, and he never had to say a word. I guess I never tried it back then because it was his thing and I'd have felt like I was ripping off his "intellectual property". The days are long gone when I could use such a skill for those purposes, but I'm still drawn to the idea. A couple of years ago I tried it at an outdoor party at an art gallery owner's home, but I was way too slow; everybody was moving around by the swimming pool etc. Then a year ago I started doing oil portraits. For my first one my subject was a young woman with whom I shared a 15 min. ferry commute across the San Francisco bay. I thought I'd sketch her during the ferry ride and work on the sketches from memory, and eventually get her to sit for me during the oil painting phase. That's more or less the way it went, except that I also supplemented things with photos since her schedule made it difficult to get her sometimes when I really needed to paint; but at least I had an idea of the pose I wanted by that time. Trying to sketch on the ferry was excruciating for me. When people started looking over my shoulder I'd start sweating, and any questions or comments made me actually flinch. But it did result in a little commission job from one of the kibitzers. It had to be done from a B/W photo because that's the way they wanted it. Nevertheless, I talked them into upgrading($) to a little watercolor and they loved it. I think that if I could get enough down on paper really quickly I would cool down by the time I attracted attention and feel more confident. I'm probably going to suffer from the stage fright for a while anyway, but If I can get practiced and get a fast start at least it won't be life threatening. So consider this a sale. If you're selling direct how can I order from you? Or is the book only going to be in bookstores? It wasn't clear to me from your post. If you're keeping a mailing list put me on it, please. Thanks __________________ John Zeissig [email protected] home.att.net/~jZeissig