Hello, I am Michael Georges, the Moderator of the Life Section.
Welcome to my Open Studio sketchbook!
After an extended absence, I am back to drawing weekly at a local art center and I am really enjoying it. Drawing and painting from life is hard for me and I struggle. So what you will see in this topic are not only my victories, but also my victims. But that is sort of the point isn't it?
I am the classic portrait artist who learned by painting exclusively from photographs. Let me take photos of my subject, and I will put up a pretty nice portrait. But that is only half of the picture. As I learned later from great painters like Bill Whitaker, painting from photos can teach you "how" to paint, but direct observation from life will teach you "what" to paint, and more importantly, "how to see". Now I am not knocking painting from photos - 3 year olds, and bank presidents have neither the time nor the patience to sit for the amount of time it takes to do a high finish portrait from life, and photo reference is more the norm than the exception. But as professional artists, we need the expanded skillset that direct observation gives you.
So come along as I wrestle with this conundrum of translating what I see onto a 2D surface. Heck, start your own sketchbook topic and let's all do it together!
Cheers!