Moving target

[Vianna Szabo]

I wasn't certain whether I should post this here or on the " Works in progress" section. This is a portrait from life of a very wiggly 11 year old. She is an interesting model in that she looks several years older than she is but her expression and sweetness is definitely child-like. She was unable to hold her pose very long and she shifted constantly, At one point she told us that her legs ached because they were growing. This painting was done over a period of 4 weeks with 3 hour painting sessions. We had her sit for 10 minutes at a time with 5 minute breaks. I could finish this from photos but I'm afraid it may destroy the "fresh" feeling that come from life painting. Any thoughts on this or anyone else out there with wiggly kid experiences?

Vianna

[Sharon Knettell]

She certainly has a lovely fresh feeling and you can feel her personality. I am becoming more enamored of the so called imperfections and quirks of work that is done from life. That maybe an excuse to dodge my own errors.

I have had this experience with a wiggly 9 year old. She would sit for 30 seconds and jump up in her seat to tell me something! I wanted to portray her wonderful sponteneaityand lively skin tones that I thought a photo would never show. I came up with an acceptable (to me) compromise. I took a photo of the pose, blew it up and placed it to the right of my canvas, she was seated on the left. I used the photo for sanity, drawing and the pose and grabbed as much as I could color-wise from the model. I referred to the photo as "good Ashley" and to her as "bad Ashley". She went along with it and thought it was a giggle!

Hope this helps!

[Vianna Szabo]

That's a good idea Sharon, thanks, I'll let you know how it works on the next wiggly kid painting I attempt.

Vianna