Last Night at Sea

Debra Jones · 05-20-2003, 01:32 AM

Have been trying to make portraiture interesting enough to sell on its own. This is the third of a series of 20x16 pastels on sueded board. I am trying to give realistic renderings of people, because I seem to lack the imagination to alter them from the likeness, the power to stand on their own, not as a portrait OF someone you don't know, but a portrait of someone you WANT to know.

This evening our model got all set up for a vacation in Mexico and I added the ocean view from her stateroom... (ok, I am not good at imagining things, but this is a real breakthrough for me!)

Debra Jones · 05-20-2003, 01:37 AM

I was much lower and farther back and she had forgotten her tilt to the head, not really understanding what this was for, but here is the model. Now be kind, I was going for the model IN the environment more than I usually do on the subject, so YES, her neck is unflatteringly jowelly but in three hours, I was trying to leave the freshness and feel, and not labor as much on the likeness.

Mike McCarty · 05-20-2003, 09:22 AM

Debra,

There is a pastel artist named Carol Ketchen, I have her book called "The Passion of Painting" (I'll try and bring her book home and post an example of her work). I'm guessing at the spelling of her name and I may have the name of the book off a little bit. She does these great figurative pastels that, at least to my reading of your posts, seem to do exactly what you are trying to achieve.

One thing she does is have two people interacting in some way. A park bench, over cocktails. Try taking your camera shopping with you or to the park. Find simple scenes and back off a little.

In my opinion you still need to take a couple more steps back from your subject and then create some interaction. If not with another person then maybe with a pigeon on a park bench.

This is a great study of your friend and the modified head angle seems to be perfect for the theme. Whatever you do, don't forget how to do these great portraits. More people are doing what I suggest and wondering how they could possibly get where you are.

Debra Jones · 05-20-2003, 12:05 PM

These are wonderful words. I suppose it is the nature of the artist to change and want more. I used to do a commercial thing and it burned me out, primarily because there was so LITTLE art in it. Doing these heads and branching into portraiture is playing on a fear I have of when it becomes a job, does it also become work?

Perhaps I am fighting, trying to do it MY way, trying to figure out a style I can enjoy enough to explore and distinct enough to keep the client at bay. Not the right attitude. I am in the process now of a couple portrait. It is very straight forward and simple. They are enjoying the process enormously. Somehow there is a knot in my stomach each time a suggestion is made.

I am hoping to establish some sort of fine art reputation that can hold me up and make the portrait work challenging. All this is still in the planning stage, of course.

I am not sure if you saw the post from Saturday, This is the same model, but her name, I find out late is Patricia! She had the wine glass and it did create a lot of discussion among my peers. First props, then people. Thank you, and I have Carol's marketing book. A bit old but again, lots of good advice. If only I could stop painting long enough to sell something!

Mike McCarty · 05-24-2003, 09:27 AM

Debra,

These are the examples of figurative paintings that came to mind. They are from a great book by Carole Katchen called "Painting with Passion."

Both of these examples show interaction between people, and neither are interested in likeness. Because of the generic treatment of the people they would probably have a broader appeal for the gallery buyer.

With your expressive style and sense of color you could be a real presence in a gallery with these types of paintings.

The first is by William Vrscak, watercolor 15x22.

Mike McCarty · 05-24-2003, 09:28 AM

The next is by Carol Katchen, 21x29 pastel ...

Mike McCarty · 05-24-2003, 09:52 AM

After making the above posts I had an ancient memory return. When I was a younger man, just out of school, and sporting a small amount of discretionary income, I purchased my first original work of art.

It would be many years before I would take up painting. The remarkable thing to me now is that this could easily be considered a portrait. I guess I was too unsophisticated to realize that you don't buy portraits in a gallery.

This is a partial image, all I could get on my scanner, through glass. The image continues on to our right to a great hand on the neck of the guitar.

S. L. Thompson watercolor 14x22

Debra Jones · 05-24-2003, 11:54 AM

To be a better portrait artist (in my opinion) I will end up needing the elegant background.
Your guitar player is interacting too and it kicks it out of strict portrait, but still is an excellent likeness. It is an elegant cross over. And not just someone watching you.

Another odd roadblock I am eliminating is the open studio I attend. I have the opportunity to do two portrait models a week and two nude study groups. It is wonderful no-brain motivation, but I don't always have the opportunity to create the pose.

My challenge is to make the most interesting composition or lighting that I can from what I am given. I think my knowlege of the human head has a lot to do with the fact that I get there before the model and stay where I put myself. I get some lulu angles, not the wonderful triangle on the cheek, so I have explored some territory where others fear to tread.

In fact, with this one I migrated across the room. The woman was facing a low flood light and was going blind, she said, where I was. Immediately I switched. I have a perverse thrill in taking the position from heck and pulling it off. Not that it shows a lot of interraction with the environment.

The open studio is down to two evenings for most of the summer so I will be forced to work from the mountain of photos I have taken for that theoretical purpose.

Michele Rushworth · 05-24-2003, 12:36 PM

Deb, your skill as a painter is so great that I know you can find a market. As in any endeavor that people undertake for money, there is a difficult balance between doing what we love and not wanting to bend too far to please others.

I imagine you might find that you can create your best work when you can control who the model is and can also do your own set-ups. Have you considered hiring your own models? You might be able to "pay" them with a preliminary oil sketch, if it gets too expensive otherwise.