Sitting or standing?

[Michele Rushworth]

It varies depending on how large a section I'm working on. When doing backgrounds or large areas of clothing, I stand so I can get back and check my work every few strokes.

When working on small detailed areas like the face, I sit. I work on the face a very small section at a time so I get up to look at it when there's enough of it done to need checking.

[Karin Lindhagen]

I work from life a lot, and then I want to be at the same hight as my model. So if my model sits, so do I.

When working from photos, my position varies depending on which easel I am using. I have a small easel that keeps wanting to fall over if I adjust it to a standing hight, and another easel that is big and heavy and very suitable for working standing.

When I work in watercolors (not for the portraits, generally) I have my paper laying on a table and I lean over it. That is truly gruesome; after a couple of hours my back hurts. I really ought to think of something better.