This is my latest painting in the golf series (taken outdoors on a cloudy day... sorry). She is 3 x 5' tall, sosyouknow. For those catching up, I've been painting some golf lately... for monetary interests, and for personal reasons. I've been focusing so far on more the anonymous golfer (also the less white, or less male golfer), or unsung hero of golf as another way of dismantling the current popular attitude towards the game (and returning it to its roots).
This is all reminding me of why i am so drawn to painting portraits. It is an exercise in compassion, and an incredible vehicle for self transformation, this focusing not only on a person, but a quality for long periods of time.
Plus, as most of the amazing portrait painters in history have found, portraits are the ultimate trojan horse. While we think we are merely looking at a picture of a person, we are actually ingesting entire messages and qualities. Sure this happens in other kinds of painting, but with a portrait... people linger longer.
3.28.2007
Miss Phyllis
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9 comments:
Geoffrey!
What a lovely painting! It's gorgeous.
I agree so much about the joy of painting portraits - it really is an opportunity to explore a quality, a mood, a moment, the depth of a moment... It's very intimate, and also meditative - I love that process of drawing and redrawing and working over and over until the various elements capture the essense of the subject.
Nice work!
thanks so much!
i was actually thinking of you when i wrote that. i know you understand full well that of which i speak.
PS... are you working with black and white photos too? It's posing all new little challenges for me...
yes, I'm working from exclusively black and white photos. It is a challenge. It's hard to capture the luminous quality, and not have the painting look dull or restrained. It is especially hard with non-white people, since I am less familiar with the intricate variants of other skin tones. I sometimes print out color pictures of other, random people with similar complexions just to capture some guidance on mixing my tones. some of my pictures are also very dark/pixelated/murky or generally low quality, which is especially challenging with a black & white image. What impressions have you found working with b&w?
basically everything you just mentioned! seriously, i encounter the same issues and have the same strategies. I have found also: referring to other painted portraits of random people for fleshtones is better than looking at photos of other people. photo color is so misleading.
Nice palette, coppery/rusty -- feels a hint of sepia-tone? Also enjoy the touch as seen on the hand and hinted in the background. Swell job --
yes! looking at other portraits is a good idea. I had done that before, but sort of forgotten. I"ll get out my Velasquez book today for some tips. I'll think of you!
:)
Amazing bracelet.
One or two strokes?
Manet's Asparagus ;)
hey, if you, or anyone is interested...
KOLOK GALLERY JURIED EXHIBITION 2007
Open call to artists for International Juried Exhibition.
Printed Exhibition Catalog.
Open to all artists, 18 years or older.
Work must be original and executed since January 2006.
Juror: Hannah Blumenthal.
Submission deadline: June 22, 2007.
$25/1-3 entries; $10 each additional.
Online entry form and details:
http://www.kolokgallery.com/2007juried/
Kolok Gallery
(413) 664-7381, info@kolokgallery.com
Located in North Adams, MA just 4 blocks from Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art
(Mass MoCA). http://www.kolokgallery.com .
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