[Tom Edgerton]

Guys--

Thanks for a great discussion, as it's what I need to hear at this time in my development.

I've been on the accuracy search for a number of years now, wanting to be looser with technique, but feeling that correct observation and rendering was the string I've needed to play to its end. But now that I feel comfortable with the skills, I'm at the crossing and sometimes the train comes, and sometimes not. (Jim, thanks for a vivid and valuable metaphor that I'll cherish.) And now I'm trying to identify the factors that determine when it does.

I do now, and always will, believe that portraiture is the least forgiving genre for bad draftmanship--it's the arena where it's impossible to hide behind flashy technique alone. But without the spirit, as John notes, it's an empty exercise--what Burt Silverman calls "the verisimilitude trap." A pitfall I'd like to avoid.

Again, thanks--TE