Tall Poppies

Over on my other blog I did a post about accepting criticism. It got me thinking about some differences between my home and the land of my birth.

What happens when cirticism is part of the culture?

Kiwis fascinate me. This little island nation, its population roughly the size of a single major city, has produced some of the world's best artists, athletes, scientists and inventors. In a way, it reminds me of the first hundred years of my birth country, the United States.

Of course, life in Another Land has a certain, Through the Looking Glass quality: any time something starts to look familiar, culture shock waits, a sting in the tail.

In this case, it's how my two countries treat excellence.

I grew up in America. We were Masters of the Universe, proud citizens of a land that stretched from sea to shining sea, and we celebrated every single one of our many accomplishments. Sometimes, we celebrated things that weren't even accomplishments, exactly. In my memory, we were too busy waving our index fingers in the air and shouting "We're #1!" to care.

Kiwis are... different. They have a saying here, "It's the tall poppy gets cut down."

And it does. From the time they're little kids, New Zealanders grow up knowing that to stand out is to court the cruelty of their peers. Those who grow to be outstanding writers, painters, dancers, athletes, etc. present a very, *very* humble public face.

Sports stars don't dance in the end zone. They put the ball down and trot back to their team. They don't say a word about going to Disneyland but instead compliment the other team and thank their fellow players. I find this refreshing.

Of course, this has its dark side. A lot of NZ's best and brightest go overseas to live. The money's better, there's more talent to work with, and their neighbours won't call them 'full of themselves'.

And it can be hardest on the only-slightly-tall poppy: the person who lost a lot of weight, or built a successful business, or completed university later in life.

I'm sure family and friends are only reinforcing cultural values by preventing those folks' egos from raging out of control, but for someone who grew up in a more... celebratory culture, it looks an awful lot like sniping, small and petty and mean.

But what do I know? Ten years in, I remain a stranger in a strange land...

Potraits

Now that I'm between writing projects for the moment, I have a bit more time to paint.

Mostly, I paint for my own enjoyment, but on occasion I do take in comissions, in this case a couple of portraits. And since I had the old (very old: it's coal-fired and steam-powered!) digi-cam out, I did a step-by-step.

1) Sketch:

I start with earth-tone oils thinned waaaaaayyyyyy down with turpentine.

Gotta work outside with this stuff, since inhaling the fumes can lead to brain cancer. At least, it can in the state of California (according to the warning labels), and a brain tumour did kill my painting teacher. So that's me, outside in the cold weather, whipping and slahing around with my brush.

I started with yellow ochre, then as my drawing took shape, firmed it up with a little burnt sienna. Reason I use earth tones is simple: they cover easiest with other paint. If I'd done the drawing in blues or reds or something, they'd tend to ghost through.

After the drawing's done, I let it dry for a week, and....

2) Background:

Pretty simple, lots of greens to bring out the reds in her face and hair. The girl herself is kind of strawberry blonde, but that big ol' strawberry up next to her head reflects red lights up all over that fair skin.

I kept the background simple so as not to detract from the girl. It *is* her portrait, after all!

And yeah, by the time the coals were hot enough to fire the digital camera's Babbage Machine, I had already skipped ahead. I've blocked in the lights and shadows on her shirt and had a wee play with those red/purple-y skin tones.

3) Hair:

You may notice I'm working on overlap. I always start with the very furthest back in the picture space, even a relatively shallow space like this one, and work my way forward. Letting the brush strokes slightly overlap as I come forward reinforces the illusion of depth.

The hair now stands away from the background and falls over the face. Still have to put the hand and berry in their proper plances, but having the hair does key the colors better, too.

Plus, my portraits look *so* creepy at this stage. :)

4) Everything Else:

I kind of took off running and forgot to stop. Happens.

From here, I'll let the painting dry a month or two and start fussing the little changes: the line of her jaw, a few little things about her hair, one of her fingernails. The girl's mum is happy, but I want it just right, 'cause that's how I roll...