MacKenzie is the grandson of Annya, one of the painters working along with me. He was a great model, and fun to paint, but I'm not crazy about this painting. The transition from light to shadow on the left side of his face is too abrupt, and doesn't look three dimensional. Sometimes I wish I had more more time in these four hour sessions, and this one falls in that category. I can easily spend too long in the preliminary drawing stage, and become obsessed with getting the shapes perfect, only to fine I don't have enough time to develop the form. I am watching this though, because I think there is something there that I need to understand about myself as a painter, because I love the flat design aspect of things.
It has been 8 weeks since I have posted on this blog, and I confess that I am about to paint portrait #85! I am going to try hard to post frequently so I can catch up. I think I hit a wall at the time I stopped posting, it had been just over a year since I had started this project, and I had just completed painting #64. I started to loose my energy and focus and was getting tired of doing it, but I am feeling back on track and re-energized! I did not realize what a commitment it would be to paint this many portraits, all of teenagers, the same size, and in only four hours. I am glad I was public with this project, because I was very tempted to quit when I reached painting #70, but I can't quit now because made a commitment to do this. But I may never paint a square again when this is over! Have any of you experienced this kind of thing in painting a series? I would be interested to hear about your experience.
So glad that you're re-energized! I look forward to seeing more of these! For my series of 100 Garden and Floral Oil Paintings, I gave myself 18 months in which to complete it (I'm on # 92 and my 18 months are up in December!) That way I can paint lots of other subjects as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks,Pam. I hope you had a great thanksgiving. We used mom's turkey china.
ReplyDeleteIts a good idea to give yourself the extra time. Did you try to do a certain amount of paintings each week? What were the specifics that you started with, such as size?
I think when any one subject or format is used repetitively, as in a series, it is bound to challenge any painter/artist to keep it fresh, interesting and unique. Never having created a challenge for myself in terms of painting a series, I cannot speak to that in particular. With portraiture, I would imagine that capturing the unique characteristics of each individual, the lighting conditions, the mood of the painter, and a host of other variables would create mini-challenges all by themselves! What makes a painter want to do a series? Is it the compelling nature of the subject matter, is it to see how much he/she can grow, or is it the challenge of painting 100 paintings of anything? I don't know! I guess you can make the comparison with a marathon. With any challenge there comes the plateau, then the pinnacle, and from there it's a breeze to the finish! I applaud you every step of the way!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your thoughts, Amy. That is exactly how I have been feeling, as I got into the 70's with this series (remember-I am ahead of the postings). I felt like a marathon runner, an exhausted one, and I admit I hit a point where I lost my inspiration. I hung in there though, and got through the slump. It was worse than a plateau! I think what helped me was focusing on each painting and each model and how special each one was, like living in the moment rather than just working towards the goal. What is that phrase - the journey is the destination? I really get that now!
ReplyDelete