Boring?

Mary Sparrow · 02-11-2004, 07:59 AM

Kim's previous post about "painting moods" is similar to my question. Are there parts of painting portraits that you find to be boring? I mean so much so that you really dread that part?

A couple of summers ago I was studying with Gian Cassone. It was my first experience having one on one instruction from a professional. As I gobbled up every word he said and stroke he painted, I remember him commenting "Geez, I hate this part, it bores the*%## out of me!". Bore him? I don't know why, but that comment shocked me. However, as I have painted more and more, I am now painfully aware of what he was referring to. When I paint a portrait, I am obsessed with the face, nothing about it bores me-frustrates maybe, but never bores. However, I get VERY bored with the backgrounds and struggle through them. Do any of you have "boring" parts? If so, how do you stay focused enough to give that part the attention it needs to be up to par?

Michele Rushworth · 02-11-2004, 10:10 AM

No specific parts of a painting bore me. I enjoy the looseness I can put in a background, and the precision I can use for a face.

I do get bored when I have been working on the same painting for a long time, especially parts that have given me trouble. I always enjoy the day when I can call a painting "done" and start the next one.

Kimberly Dow · 02-12-2004, 01:37 AM

I get bored as soon as I "think" a painting is finished. When I study it for awhile and need to make minor corrections or I get tips from a critique it drives me nuts. I do the corrections that need to be done, but it's boring as anything to me. I'm like Michele - I just want to move on to the next one - that's the fun part.

Mary Reilly · 02-15-2004, 09:58 PM

When I am working on a large canvas with alot of negative space I sometimes find the first layer or two of the background boring. I feel like I am "pushing paint". As the painting progresses and I start getting into more detail and the background also begins to take shape then I start enjoying working on the painting more. As the painting gets closer and closer to being finished I start really enjoying it. Just when I am having the best time painting, all of a sudden it is finished! Then it is time to start all over again the boring part of covering another white canvas.

Mary

Julianne Lowman · 02-17-2004, 11:35 PM

I loathe doing copies of previously painted or drawn portraits. Ugh! I don't mind doing studies, but I find after I do one portrait, I want to move on to something unique. I don't mind doing the same person in a different pose, but, oh how I dread it when someone says, How much for TWO paintings, one for me and one for my mother?

I too, love the face. Clothing and backgrounds are also a struggle for me and I have a hard time with them, unless there is some interesting detail involved.

I also hate returning to a portrait that I think is "finished" with tweaks. I'm afraid I'll ruin it or paint the life out of it, but mostly I have already mentally moved on to another piece.

I have made myself wait on photo shoots until just before I begin a painting so that I am excited about the work. If I start with reference photos too far out, I'll forget the feelings of anticipation and begin to dread it like doing the laundry.

For years I would take a hobby I loved and turn it into a profession. The second I HAD to perform a task, it then became drudgery. I refuse to allow that to happen with portraiture. Taking some time off (a couple of days to weeks) after particularly intricate or involved pieces is often required to renew my spirit.