#3 of 5
 |
| Lisa |
Third day challenge to post pastel paintings that mark steps my experience. While studying for my BFA I was intent upon becoming a sculptor .. I loved loved figurative work and was quite good at it, even then, but believed that in the area I lived it was difficult enough to "make a living as a 2-dimensional artist, no less a 3D artist" so I opted to focus on painting. Initially oil painting and watercolor, but when my husband had strong reactions to the oil, I had to drop that, after getting a good start on producing and selling. Then when my children were little it was easier for me to grab sticks of pastel -- no prep, no clean-up -- so my focus shifted. (Ah to have had a dedicated, private studio .. but I was doing something, so ..)
Drawn back to figures, I did more portraits. I love trying
to catch a likeness AND an emotion. Recently I've been playing with creative
in-the-moment expression of the subject. It's fun and, with some recent ones,
for my own enjoyment. (Of course, notably, my greatest muse and favorite is my
granddaughter.) And I've shifted to sanded papers and softer pastels (what a
difference!)
Here is one of my first portraits of my daughter's friend Lisa.
Early and very controlled strokes
on golden Mi-Teints and allowing the paper color to show through as highlights
on the skin. I feel I've come a long way from this one.
The second painting is a more recent one. "Let It Snow". Playing with expression and more fluid strokes. Close-up and personal to pull the viewer into the subject's momentary experience.
 |
| Let It Snow |
No comments:
Post a Comment