Technical Insights from “Not Far from Home” #9

This is the ninth installment from the series of posts that will describe my thoughts and technical insights from selected works included in our newly released book, “Not Far from Home”….Enjoy!
Working with models…
One of the peripheral joys of working from life for me, aside from the ability to witness the breathtaking light first hand as it descends on the model, is the privilege of enjoying the company of another human throughout the course of the day.
Part of that privilege has been the process of working with the same model over the course of many years, recording their lives from children into adulthood. Such is the case with several people from our community. The following photos show one such daughter of a dear friend who first sat for me at age nine and still poses for me today, years later.

There is a comfort and ease that works its way into the paintings that would not be present if the nervousness of the first sitting were always obvious on the models face. Nothing can be faked. I have tried to paint a relaxed mood that was not actually present on the models face many times only to wipe it out time after time. What I see is what will show in the end. While working with a familiar friend, I also find it somewhat of a relief not to have to make excuses for all of the idiosyncratic maneuvers I do as I prepare for the days work, whether it be the pacing, circling, sighing, designing and redesigning the set, or to once again answer the question, “Why are you squinting so much”?
Another bonus I have noticed in working with the same person repeatedly is the desire to avoid redundancy in the poses. As I am working with the same person, I am forced to come up with new concepts, whether it is in design, lighting or costume. During my studies of the masters, I often noticed the repetition of the same models as well.  John Waterhouse, John Singer Sargent, Carl Von Marr, Abbott Thayer,and of course Wyeth’s Helga to name a few.

This last photo is one of the latest paintings I have done of the same gal, almost 10 years later.  As you can see, she still loves cats!  As I scanned the pages of “Not Far from Home”, I noticed that there were 16 images of her…see if you can find them all!

For more info on “Not Far from Home”, click book.  Thanks!

Technical Insights from “Not Far from Home” #4

This is the fourth  installment from the series of posts that will describe my thoughts and  technical insights from selected works included in our newly released book, “Not Far from Home”….Enjoy!

Photographs…

Some have asked if I use photographs when painting. The short answer is, sometimes yes.  However, it is extremely critical to work with the subject as much as possible from life.  If I must use photographs because the small children are too restless to sit still or an animal is involved, I will always do a color study from life to gather the necessary information that is missing from the photo.  The subtleties and variations in tone, value, and color are simply too intricate to guess at.  To paraphrase the great landscape painter Edgar Payne who commented on the subject, “Our brains are way too small to invent such infinite variation”.  In my experience with painting, I would completely agree with his words.

Again, if I must use photographs, I have found the best case scenario is to meet with the model to arrange the composition, photograph them, then, to go back to the studio to draw or map out the composition on the canvas. I will also print out a black and white photo and tape it to the canvas and meet the models back on location to begin the painting. Now I have all I need… the models bathed in the beautiful light, and the photo which will give me the information I will need to accurately draw the subject.  This does take a bit more time, but is well worth the effort.

I have read that William Bouguereau had somewhat the same approach when he painted small children, only he used carefully drawn pencil studies created from marble sculptures instead of photos.  He had the study for the drawing, and would have the “children running around the studio” for the color and value.

The following images show a finished painting and the study from life that corresponds. The degree of finish in the studies will vary based on the amount of time I had with the subject from life.   Often this plan of attack is necessary in very early or late light, when you are only given a few minutes of a certain light quality. As you can see, little attention was given to the drawing in the study, and because the time with the model was short, all of my energies went into accurately capturing the value and color relationships.

Other examples of the varying quality in the studies and the intricate relationships between the field sketch and finished work can be seen on pages 28,52,62,96,112 and136 in our recently released book, “Not Far from Home”.

Enjoy!