So here’s two tiny (4x6) studies of my yoga teacher. I like the second one best. It just looks more painterly. I’m not sure what that means but I know it when I see it.
Oh, these are maybe 5 x 7. I am really enjoying painting small these days. Believe it or not, it slows me down because it doesn’t require as much time. But it also frees me up to try new things. I’m thinking more about color choices, Mark making, etc.
Here’s my sketch/watercolor portrait of the week. It’s a weird angle but I was drawn to the “Tough baby” expression and the hand/head foreshortening. I didn’t really get the expression but I like the hand in the painting. The sketch looks like a baby Brian Dennahy to me!
I love the "tough baby" expression too. You should have painted her in a little leather jacket. Seriously, I'm enamored of your portraits. The sketches and the paintings have different qualities but they build on each other and both stand out. I agree that the second portrait of your yoga teacher is more painterly (and I have the same sense that I know it when I see it, but I can't put it into words), but the first has a strong graphic quality that's striking. This has been an incredibly beautiful autumn for leaf colors, hasn't it? I've been looking and thinking of painting them, especially when the light spotlights some of the more colorful ones...but then I get worried that I'm no Sara! Still, I might have a try--you're inspiring me!
ReplyDeleteActually that tough baby is Andrew...31 years later he’s still a tough baby!
DeleteI liked the darker painting ot you yoga teacher best at first. It was more dramatic, and kind of stylized, actually at first I thought it was a photo of a painting that you had copied, but the second one, just because it's not so dark has more depth to it. and nobody knows deep like Ken.
ReplyDeleteThat tree looks like a bonfire, you ought to toss a witch into it.
I think some of the subtleties are lost with the high contrast background in the first portrait, so yes, the second one looks much more painterly and interesting. This is not the time to abandon the tree paintings, now that we finally have fall leaves in mid-November. The tree in front of our house has been steadily dropping leaves that look like giant snowflakes falling. Andrew! Better now let him see that! Your baby painting/drawing looks great. From such a tiny picture too.
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