Arianne

David Draime · 02-04-2007, 04:53 PM

I finished this one a few weeks ago - it's a present for Arianne's grandfather.... I'm not very happy with this one, it was a pretty tedious affair finishing it. I really didn't like the paper surface, it was too smooth - not enough tooth, etc.

I've known Arianne since she was about 12. She's a stunningly beautiful young lady now at 20 years of age. I did a charcoal drawing of her when she was 15 - I'm not sure if I ever posted it here - if I can find it, I'll post it in this thread. I'm,now doing a painting of her, a 3/4 figurative work - kind of ambitious for me as I have never done a figurative painting before - and I'm anxious to see how it turns out.

Anyway...Charcoal on thinted paper w/ white highlights; approx 16" X 20"

David Draime · 02-04-2007, 05:04 PM

This one is a bit wierd, but it was a while ago when I was just getting back into working representationally. It's interesting for me to see the difference in my work between then and now - and the difference in Arianne.

Alexandra Tyng · 02-04-2007, 09:35 PM

David,

Both are beautiful. Though you've progressed, I can see the beginnings of your particular vision in the first drawing. Both show your sincerity, insightfulness, and appreciation of the person you are drawing. Yes, she's a very attractive young woman, but she's not just a pretty face. You can see into her eyes and get a feeling for who she is. I feel the same way about your drawings of your students. Now I can't wait to see the painting!

Enzie Shahmiri · 02-05-2007, 11:43 AM

David,

I like both paintings as well, although the last one you did shows your full command of your skills. It is great that you had the opportunity to paint Arianne at different stages of her life.

Garth Herrick · 02-05-2007, 05:26 PM

David,

I have to agree with Alex and Enzie that you have always been an unusually fabulous and insightful artist, and that you have come into full fruition of yout talents now. Both Ariannes are exemplary, but your new one is particularly stunning in her pose (despite your frustrations with the paper)! Kudos and congratuations on this success!

Garth

Tom Edgerton · 02-06-2007, 09:54 AM

David--

These are great...I especially appreciate the attitude of perfect restraint in your use of the white accents.

Great work!

Mischa Milosevic · 02-20-2007, 07:50 PM

David,

Both drawings are are in a class of their own. Well done! Let me share with you what I see when I work. When setting up a pose for a portrait one of the things I do is ask the person to turn their head ever so slowly from one direction to another. When doing this I usually find, not always, that there is a moment that really appeals to my visual and senses. As you well know setting the pose just right is part of the game.

When drawing the shapes and lines one gets so familiar with what one sees that a slight deviation than what is there becomes quite evident. Each developing stage reveals special moments for me especially as the crown is the finishing stage. If in the finish I do not see, in my drawing or painting, something that one can reach-out and touch than I have failed. Don't get me wrong I feel the same way about my line drawings. Sketches are different for me, they are my source of information and or shape and value study.

I think one can see beauty all around us especially in the face of man/woman. Like you mentioned a person does not need to be something extra in beauty to be beautiful but what I joy for a artist when we see it, capture and relate it for others to see. What a joy!! I'm so glad that you can see it David! Many will appreciate what you convey through your art.

Wishing you all the best!

David Draime · 02-20-2007, 09:16 PM

Michele, you are too kind...really!

Grethe, thanks! Charcoal really is a wonderful medium, the range of values, the deep rich black than you can get, and the soft passages - I just love it.

Jean, thanks for saying these things, but, with this one, I now just see the flaws, and maybe a few nice passages. And as for Farrah Fawcett - I would be really interested in seeing her painting process - her technique in applying the paint - perhaps more so than the finished painting itself.

Mischa, you put these sentiments so well...What a joy indeed! We are so fortunate, I really feel it as quite a high calling that has come to us portrait artists: to call attention to the beauty ( and frailty, vulnerability, strength, weakness, pain, love...) inherent in each person we portray; to lift the veil slightly to reveal the innate excellence and overpowering beauty of the human reality - and not through dialog or argument, but by pushing colored pigments around on a flat surface! How wonderful!! By our concentrated and penetrating gaze upon our subject, and by repeating the gaze, over and over, and finding our own unique ways of capturing those fleeting moments in paint, we can somehow reveal - or at least intimate - something of the eternal, profound mystery that is all of us. And for the viewer - to encourage this type of reflection, if only briefly - what a gift we give to the world. And - if that weren't enough - to be part of such a rich heritage - to follow in the footsteps of Raphael, Rembrandt, Bouguereau, Sargent, and all the great Masters who preceded us...my God, what a noble profession!

David