Painting portraits from life

Jean Kelly · 10-23-2002, 01:47 AM

Tomorrow I start my first portrait from "life". These forum topics started at the perfect time; thank you Cynthia (and whomever else was involved)! This will also be my first oil, so I'll be jumping in with both feet. It's not a commission so if I fail miserably the world won't come to an end.

As for a philosophy, I strongly believe that drawing and painting from life is the only way to learn to "see". I will be taking photos but they will be for reference only, to help me find my mistakes. I'm fortunate in that my model is my next door neighbor. I wanted to paint a woman first (I've done a lot of men lately), and she is available to pose, and has a beautiful face. The most startling eyes I've ever seen, pale, pale, grey green with a dark ring.

I'm going to try to utilize all I've learned here and do things in some kind of logical order, sketches, color studies, etc. I can't wait to start and hope to be posting soon.

Jean

Doreen Lepore · 10-23-2002, 08:53 AM

Good for you, Jean! I have several victims in mind myself, but have had to rebuild and paint our rotted mailbox, then paint a bathroom and a bedroom. But I'm working on my brush stroke!

Michael Georges · 10-23-2002, 09:09 AM

Jean:

I am sure folks would love to see and hear about your preliminary prep work in the Conceptualizing the Portrait Topic. Good luck with it and we will be pulling for you.

Jean Kelly · 10-23-2002, 01:39 PM

Thanks Michael and Doreen. I tried posting under the Concepts thread but lost my connection (don't know what happened). I'll have to rewrite and post later as I have an appointment with my VICTIM.

Jean Kelly · 10-27-2002, 10:27 PM

Aft gang aglee! (oft go awry). Well...my model got sick, I went to spine Doc for some back pain and ended up in a spine brace for a month and needing more x-rays, so.... I'm getting used to life with little spine moblity. Just thought I'd touch base with all. I hope to be painting soon, and will still be reading posts.

Jean

Karin Wells · 10-29-2002, 05:49 PM

Quote:

...drawing and painting from life is the only way to learn to "see". I will be taking photos but they will be for reference only, to help me find my mistakes.

I got a chuckle out of this. You are certainly not alone when you say that you can only "see" by looking at a live model, but why is it so much easier for most of us to find our mistakes by looking at a photograph?

Those who insist that the only way to draw or paint is directly "from life" ignore how useful a tool photography can be. Not learning to use a camera can actually be a handicap for a beginner and slow down the learning process.

Take pictures, don't apologize for it and don't feel guilty that you're doing "something wrong."

Jean Kelly · 10-29-2002, 10:30 PM

Okay Karin, I did. They're in the photo resource critique section. And I feel GUILTY. But I also sketched to assuage my guilt. May I get fifty lashes with a wet noodle. Seriously, I am having problems with this whole photography thing. But I'll keep reading and drawing and painting and maybe the whole thing will work itself out.