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...

Bones Ground, Bread Made

Not sure what I was aiming for when I started this painting, but The Ogre it's been christened, and The Ogre it shall be!

I particularly like the detail in the face:

Maybe in the next few days I'll try to do another post showing it in its various stages. The one shown above isn't actually finished, but it is the most recent picture I have...

Just in case y'all wondered what I do with my days!

Relative Wealth

I consider myself a pretty prosperous guy. My home is lovely. The rent's paid and so are the bills. I can vote for my favorite authors (and promising newcomers) by buying their books new.

My various scribbles dabs and marks pay for the necessities and even a few extras. It's been over fifteen years since I had a 'real' job, and there's no temptation to run out and get one.

Like I said, prosperous.

Turns out I make less than the minimum wage.

I can't tell you how funny I find this!

La Vie Artistique

Just watching Eating Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoying It). I was already a Melvin Van Peebles fan -- my own djinn are so restless, I'm a sucker for any polymath.

And Melvin is a genius. Scary, scary smart. Restless, intellectual and continually grounded. Like I said, already a fan.

But then in the movie, I heard about how Melvin got into movies. He made three short films, but got no interest in America. So he went to Holland and studied astronomy. French filmfolk asked him to come out, opened his eyes and left him.

He found himself in France: alone on the Champs Elysees, didn't speak a word of French, three cans of well-regarded short films under his arm and not a penny in his pocket.

He was a beggar for a while. Then he became a street musician. Gradually, he learned French. While he was still busking, he learned that there was a law giving French writers a director's union card to bring their own works to the screen.

So Melvin wrote four novels in French. They were critically acclaimed. He took the novels in and got his director's card.

And that's how he came to make movies.

The man is now one of my heroes!

That kind of tenacity, creativity and flexibility is what it take to make a creative career.

Too often, I meet kids with plenty of talent (for art, music, writing, etc.), but they have this real passive outlook. Like they'll take a course and then answer the want-ads or something. Now, courses don't hurt; they may even open your world and change your life. But no one cares. There are no want ads for artists, and no one cares you're alive. They also don't care if you came from a prestigious ecole or were raised in the wild by wolves.

They want to see the work. And they want the work to make them care that they're alive. And in a territory where maps don't work, twists and turns are to be expected.

It's a sort of commando sensibility: dropped behind enemy lines with a knife in your teeth and a goal. You do whatever it takes to get there: over, under or through, you get to that goal.