Hashtag: Big Magic! Why I'm Painting This Portrait Project.

My writer-daughter Rosie Spinks said months ago I really must explain to folks out there why on earth I decided to paint a third town with my portrait brush with a third newspaper being as I didn't live close to the town and had no real connection to it.

http://rojospinks.pressfolios.com

For the longest time, I was having trouble finding a way to put pen to paper, or hit the keyboard, to explain why.

The Face of Charleston By Johanna Spinks
April 2016
Kindly Featured in The Charleston Mercury.
With sitter, famous doorman  Havin Turner
storyhere

As readers of this blog will know by now, I painted The Face of Ventura with The Ventura Breeze and Lyn Fairly and Friends Radio show, over a two year period (58 of those portraits now in the permanent collection of the Museum of Ventura County) before moving on to The Face of   Malibu with The Malibu Times. This coming December I will hit the 50 sitter mark in Malibu, my hometown,  which I am immensely proud of.

January 2016 saw The Face of Charleston begin with the historic Charleston Mercury newspaper (est. 1822) and co-creator Katherine Mengedoht,  the concept being exactly the same, to record a slice of the town through my portrait brush, the sitter's sketch appearing in the newspaper along with their life story and how they found the experience of being painted by me. This new project has a newspaper sponsor for the first time, Dan Mengedoht. I should point out I am never paid. This is a free portrait project and I am now in my sixth year of doing it. Not a penny in my pocket from it but many pennies out of my pocket for supplies, travel, promo stuff, time away from the earning portrait commission easel.

So why do it? Am I nuts not to want to get paid?

I was gifted a book at the weekend called "Big Magic" by Elizabeth Gilbert, of "Eat, Pray Love" fame, outling 'creative living beyond fear'.

http://www.elizabethgilbert.com

We are fans of this uber-talent in our house, especially my afore-mentioned writer-daughter Rosie who has told me many times I need to tap into Gilbert more. She talks as eloquently as she writes by the way. Both Rosie and Gilbert. And who can ever forget the permission to enjoy pasta in the blockbuster book of a decade  "Eat, Pray' Love"?

So I started reading "Big Magic", along with listening to a long-form podcast quite coincidentally  that I had started Friday night before receiving the surprize gift book Saturday in the mail. You could say it was a magical Gilbert weekend. There are no accidents.

http://longform.org/posts/longform-podcast-187-elizabeth-gilbert

A lightbulb went off for me. Suddenly I have a deeper understanding of what will ultimately be a  10 year public portrait project for me: why I continue to do it, the  initial draw for me, and its' current phase draw. Hence this long and overdue post.

These portrait projects are all about a certain magic that I have no control over.

The Face of Malibu By Johanna Spinks
April 2016
Col. Rick Mullen
Kindly featured in The Malibu Times
http://www.malibutimes.com/malibu_life/article_

*The magic of creativity...

 Letting the muse in. I have never once taken a sitting for granted in the 120 or so sitters I have painted by now for the projects of butchers, bakers, candlestick makers, and of course movers and shakers, mayors, famous actors and town cryers. I always ask politely ahead of time for the art spirit to guide me as I walk into the sitting of just two short hours. I prepare too.  I give myself thinking/meditation  time setting up my palette with paints before the sitter arrives.  I prep the canvas along with some practicing of my daily drawing scales, much like a musician doing his. I have never once shown up 'less than'. No late nights before. No extra glassses of red wine or heavy garlic meals. I want to give the sitter and my portrait brush the best chance I can of magic showing up, or at the very least pulling off a decent likeness that both I and the sitter will be happy with.

*The magic of the moment...

Each and every sitter has shared with me so honestly about their lives during the sitting in the most extraordinary and  humbling way. This is indescribable. Words can't cover it. I know I will never do anything in my art life like this again. I will never share with people in quite the same way and so intimately-  and around my art - over such a long period of time.  It is a complete one-off that I will remember when I am old and grey looking back in wonderment from my wheelchair in the nursing home.


*The magic of letting go...

I learned at the very beginning I had to let my art ego go. This was a soul project as Gilbert would say. These two hour sketches from life, talking as we go,  can never look like a sketch that you paint quietly with no-one around. And of course, I am putting each and every one of them out there in the world through the newspapers, a radio show, and on social media outlets.

Will they be judged? Of course! Will people know the challenge of painting someone who is often quite nervous when they show up at my studio,  in just two hours, and me wondering if I can pull off a likeness once again around the 'fly by the seat of your paints' process? Of course not. Will the sketches be judged negatively? Of course. I know that for a fact after receiving some hate mail and  especially an email from a fellow female artist to another, that was not meant for my eyes, but directly criticising my work and supposed 'talents' around the project. Will the sketches be judged positively? Of course. There is no such thing as a free lunch, an art buffet where everyone loves every course,  everything about you and your work. No.

I had to learn to be content with the sheer process of creation, the mission of the project, and the gift the sitter was giving me, by sitting for my series and for the gifts of the series' writers and newspaper publishers. See below.

I try to never adjust the sketches after the sitter leaves the studio, fearing the life essence on the canvas will be forever lost if I do and that is not fair to the art spirit or the moment the sitter and I created. A unique interaction between sitter and painter recorded forever through paint.

*The magic of an uncertain outcome...learning trust.

Usually in my art life I am very in control and type A. I usually know the outcome of much of what I do.  Portrait commissions are researched, and then painted to my absolute  best, delivered on time, and I can't wait to start the next.  Badda bing, badda boom.

However, the portrait sketches have never been for sale. They are painted on these fairly thick stretcher bars, , 16"x16", stacking up in my storage area like a super thick, giant deck of cards. I try not to get nervous when I look at them piling up, no-one picking the deck up to shuffle it. I don't know what's going to happen to them.  Will they get a show? Etc., etc. This was certainly the case with The Face of Ventura.  I had no idea the collection would end up in the county Museum permanently. And to be honest, it was the townsfolk that made that happen, not me. So I have learned trust. Trust that there are so many souls now involved in this project, from all walks of life, that the deck of cards will play out where it may.


So thank you to each and every sitter for the magic of this journey and the art spirit, that makes me wish to continue in a another town. And a big thank you to Elizabeth Gilbert for helping me make some sense of this just when I needed to. And also to Rosie Spinks for sharing the creative journey and her big magic with me.

About one hour in, of a two hour sitting at the historic Market Pavilion Hotel, hosted in the Presidential Suite.

Magical thanks also to:

Elizabeth Gilbert for reposting this blog post on her impressive Twitter Feed!!

Charleston sponsor Dan Mengedoht

clickhere

Sheldon Brown, publisher of The Ventura Breeze
http://venturabreeze.com

Arnold York, publisher of The Malibu Times

Charles Waring, publish of The Charleston Mercury

Lyn Fairly, Lyn Fairly and Friends' Radio Show.
http://kvta.com/on-air/saturdays/lyn-fairly/

Project Writers:
Catalina Wyre, Malibu
Homaira Shifa, Malibu
www.homairashifa.com
Katherine Mengedoht, Charleston
Sheldon Brown, Ventura.

Unsung Hero Portrait Series

Honored to have been commissioned to paint a series of "Unsung Heroes" for The Ventura Breeze Newspaper  by gracious Jordan and  Sandra Laby. Here is our fourth recipient Elizabeth Cornejo at her presentation lunch with the Labys. Single life sitting. Thanks also to ace publisher Sheldon Brown

Read Elizabeth's courageous life story:
here

Elizabeth Cornejo
24x18"
By Johanna Spinks
Single life sitting
www.johannaspinks.com

Presentation lunch with Elizabeth and series' gracious sponsors Sandra and Jordan Laby. Kindly appearing in The Ventura Breeze. 

I'm In The Museum!

Super excited to announce my Face of Ventura project, a collection of 58 portrait sketches painted from life, is a current exhibit at the Museum of Ventura County until May 18th.

http://venturamuseum.org/current-exhibitions

I will be doing an Artist Talk Saturday April 26th at 1p.m. Come join me at the Museum?

Thanks to the Museum of Ventura County, which now owns the collection, all of the sitters, co-creator Sheldon Brown publisher of The Ventura Breeze, which featured the sketches and sitters' life stories over a two year period, Lyn Fairly of The  Lyn Fairly and Friends Radio Show, who interviewed each sitter, and Bonnie Weigel, CEO of FOOD Share for sponsoring the collection's first showing.

http://www.foodshare.com

I couldn't have done it without you.

Portrait Painting Relevant Versus "Selfies"?

Is portrait painting still relevant in the age of the 'seflie'? Read here:

www.theepochtimes.com

Thanks to journalist Christin Lin for this great piece about my portrait projects The Face of Ventura and The Face of Malibu, still ongoing.

A Tale of Two Cities..Two Mayoral Portraits

Ms. Cheryl Heitmann, Deputy Mayor of Ventura, as featured in The Ventura Breeze http://www.venturabreeze.com/, Thanks to publisher Sheldon Brown.

Painting a portrait of a  British Mayor this week and so enjoying it.

Gosh, it's been busy this week. So much to catch up on.

A portrait delivered to a lovely client who I so enjoyed working with from Northern CA.  Another 'Face of Ventura' sitter, or maybe two or three including the charming deputy mayor Ms. Cheryl Heitmann; classes to teach at The California Art Institute and a Spring/Summer semester to plan for at the gracious invite of  The Los Angeles Academy of  Figurative Art,  just voted by American Artist Magazine as one of THE TOP TEN TEACHING SCHOOLS IN AMERICA;  new newspaper editors to meet; new portrait projects to plan for; fresh travel for rather exciting portrait events all around. See tomorrow's post for that!

English bacon butter sandwiches are helping me through this WHIZZ but not my waist line. Oh, well, who cares. This is not the first time I have relied on fried hog. Sorry to all the veggies out there.

Enjoying painting my current portrait of an English mayor. 50" x 40"-ish.  All that red robe gorgeous stuff, fluffy fur, and ancient gold ceremonial necklaces, not to mention the most amazing face. Who can complain? I was charmed by this lovely mayoral lady last September at a lunch in prep. for this portrait. No hog.

Looking forward to attending the ever so elegant National Trust For Scotland Event  Gala April in New York City at The Metropolitan Club where I will have a portrait up for grabs, so to speak.  More to follow on that. This is always such a lovely rewarding evening. 

 MOST excitedly of ALL, I am told my 'Face of Ventura' project will get its'  museum debut at The Ventura County Museum of Art thanks to my dear friends at Food Share http://www.foodshare.com/ late August this year. More on this to follow....

FOOD SHARE feeds 74,000 hungry people  each month in Ventura County. People all over the world visit this blog. Find your local food bank,   DONATE!!!! VOLUNTEER!!!

A Portrait Commission Signed Sealed And Delivered this week

Ms. Kat Merrick,  super cool lady and Founder of TLVC, and a Face of Ventura

  A Face of Ventura sitter not published yet...identity kept secret. ha ha

A Face of Ventura Sitter Not Published Yet

Lovely portrait sitter...portrait accepted.

Painting the fascinating deputy mayor  Ms. Cheryl  Heitmann

To Catch A Chief...Face of Ventura Project

This has to be one of my favorite, and most interesting, sitters so far in my 'Face of Ventura'project...Chief Ken Corney of The Ventura Police Department. Now there is a guy with a high-pressure job. BTW, every sitter has been SUPER!

I can't give you any more details of my sitting with the Chief as I might get arrested. Chief Corney was certainly very arresting, full of wit and warmth, great stimulating conversation, and a clear passion for what he does.

THANK YOU CHIEF CORNEY!!!

And thank you to all the supporters of this project so far. WOW! But especially Sheldon Brown of The Ventura Breeze featuring the series.

A Man About Town...Face of Ventura

Meet Mark Hartley, my latest sitter for my The Face of Ventura project being kindly featured in each edition of The Ventura Breeze.

Mark is a pretty amazing man and I knew I wanted to paint him for my series very much. He takes credit for much of the great renovation that has happened in downtown Ventura, taking old buildings and restoring them to their former glory. If you haven't been to his restaurant The Watermark you are missing out, not just on fine-dining, but the exquisite building containing the restaurant. It has to be seen to be believed. On top of all of this restoration, Mark is a big-wig music industry mogul. A man about town!

The Face of Ventura ...What was I thinking...

I was honored to paint all around great person Josh Addison for my Face of Ventura series. So what was I thinking?

I had better not mess this up! He is the guy who founded The Bell Arts Factory that I rent my studio. Not a good day to hit a bum note with drawing and a likeness.

I think I did ok. I sure had fun with him. Thank you Josh.

Man of Letters...Face of Ventura Project.

My Face of Ventura project delivers the most interesting of sitters to my studio door. I knew from the very first time I met Bill, the local postmaster in town, who is known by EVERYONE, that I wanted to paint him.

This man of letters has had a long career in the U.S. Post Office. It took him a while to think about being painted by me. I was very blessed when he said yes. Now, I have a new friend and a deeper respect for the old charming ways of snail mail.

Post those letters folks!

YOu can catch my series each week in The Ventura Breeze newspaper and on talk radio's Lyn Fairly and Friends Show, KVTA 1520 AM , Saturdays at noon.

Focus on The Masters With Ms. Donna Granata

MS. DONNA GRANATA

End of the sitting, a great meeting of the art spirit! Read Donna's Story This Week in The Ventura Breeze http://www.venturabreeze.com/
I was so looking forward to painting Ms. Donna Granata for my FACE OF VENTURA PROJECT. I had heard so much about her and her impressive work. She is an extraordinary portraitist in her own right. Highly intelligent and one class act. Ms. Granata also founded FOCUS ON THE MASTERS here an impressive ongoing archival project to record the lives of many extraordinary artists and their work in the county of Ventura. I attended a TV taping of Donna's interview a couple of years ago with David Leffel for said FOCUS and was very moved by her interview of this great man.

Plus, Donna also has a great face to paint.

It was a lovely meeting of the art spirit and mind.

Thank you MS. DONNA GRANATA!

MY FACE OF VENTURA PROECT is kindly featured in The Ventura Breeze every issue and I am excited that each sitter will now be appearing on The Lyn Fairly Show, "Lyn Fairly and Friends" Saturdays at noon. KVTA News Talk Radio 1520 AM . Please listen in...http://www.kvta.com/on-air/

Thank you Lyn and Sheldon Brown of The Breeze!

HOW TO PAINT FROM LIFE...What was I thinking?

My latest Face Of Ventura, Jalopy Joe.

So what was I thinking while painting this sitter?

This was a posthumous portrait. I decided, while painting Joe from a photo, that I will not be painting anyone else from photos for my Face of Ventura series being featured in The Ventura Breeze. He will be the exception.

Each sitter, nominated by the town's people for good deeds or of special interest, is painted directly from life in a two to three hour sitting with no touch-ups or tweaking after they leave the studio as I think this defeats the purpose of the project - the direct interaction with the sitter, hearing their life story and revealing the centuries-old art of portrait painting, from life, to them. I have worked hard to build this skill set up over the years and continue to.

It really tests an artist's metal. Some days you are shiny and 'on'. Other days you are dull and 'off'. It also reminds me to DRAW all the time so one is prepared.

Too many portraits are done from photos. You see portfolio after portfolio of them at The Portrait Society of America's annual conference. There is a certain flatness to them oftentimes because of this.

Things change if you finish a portrait from photos after the sitter has left the room. Yes, you will get a more finished art piece and a more exact likeness perhaps, more pleasing to perhaps the sitter and the artist's ego, but you sacrifice a certain ENERGY in my opinion. My series is far from perfect artistically. Sometimes I wince. But each sketch has a very definite life force.

I don't want to mess with that even if it means I have to put my art ego aside which is a little hard sometimes.

Thanks as always to Breeze publisher Sheldon Brown for featuring my series in his paper. My Face of Ventura project would not be the same without it.

WHAT WAS I THINKING...

Here is my latest Face of Ventura - lovely librarian Star Soto.

So WHAT AM I THINKING WHILE I AM PAINTING STAR FOR MY NEW ART PROJECT BEING FEATURED IN THE VENTURA BREEZE EACH EDITION?

This is a public demo.

1. I wish my back wasn't against an open door. I am cold. So is the sitter.

2. I need to get some good color going here with my limited palette. The room's light is not the best and we are near a restroom, even worse. I bring a backdrop fortunately so I can block out that uninspiring view. I hope no-one trips on my light wire. Will I get sued?

3. My sitter comes straight from a day of work. She must be hungry. I need to give her some breaks. A lot of people are eating around us which doesn't help.

4. My drawing had better be 'on'. Star's family show up. Not to mention, the public passing by.

I get a good likeness from early on ! Yes!

5. I need to make good shapes in her hair. Seems important to the 'feel' of Star. This takes me time.

6. That guy talking to me who is telling me 'how amazing' my work is, smells like a five-day old brewery. Take comments with a pinch of salt

7. Remind myself, public demos and locations can be a challenge. Always prepare. Take nothing for granted. Ever.

FACE of Ventura...Public Demo tonight...

I am doing a public demo tonight from 6 to 8pm at Ventura Harbor, The Greek Restaurant, for my Face of Ventura project. Here is this week's sitter film director Lorenzo Destephano, creator of The Ventura Film Society and currently working with legendary actor John Hurt....wowee,,,

Now that's a chap I'd like to chat to over a martini - but not two. Might fall off my manola's.

Face of Ventura Project

Another day, another amazing sitter, Lynn Mikelatos, for my Face of Ventura Project with The Ventura Breeze newspaper.

55 people will be painted from the town in a single sitting from life to reflect the town, each image and the sitter's unique story appearing in each edition of The Breeze. So far 14 people have been painted.

I was really sick this day. But the job had to get done in a timely fashion for the newspaper deadline as I had to travel. NO matter how kindly the newspaper publisher Sheldon Brown is, he would not think kindly of a blank hole in his paper.

A challenge is a challenge, no matter how big or small the project you take on. I learned that last year doing 365 Days of Drawing, no matter what. Newspaper deadlines over a two year span, week in, week out, keeps you on your art toes, not to mention your sketches from life appearing for all the world, at least Ventura, to see.

I am enjoying it tho.!

Think Pink...Face of Ventura Project

This is a very special young teenager, Olivia Simonson, whose story really touched me. I know her mother, who passed away from breast cancer, would be so proud of her and I was thinking that when I painted her from life, in a single sitting, for my non-profit Face of Ventura Project running in The Ventura Breeze newspaper in CA. http://www.venturabreeze.com/ Thanks to Sheldon Brown, publisher, for his continued support of this project.

You get what you get when you paint from life with its distractions. There is talking, well, of course, breaks for coffee, lunch, restroom, aspirins or whatever. Each sitting has a life of its' own.

But I felt a real connection to Olivia hearing her talk about her mom and how she is now trying to raise money for the PINK RIBBON cause by climbing the world's highest mountain. As a proud mother myself of two young ladies, I found this eloquent role model inspiring. You don't get that connection painting from a photo in quite the same way.

Tattoo Me? Face of Ventura Project.

I have been lucky enough recently to teach some of the best tattoo artists in the Ventura area who ink just about everybody and anybody who want a really good tat!

They are very talented with line and see value really well. They push me as a teacher. Plus, they are really cool and I am not, but they don't make me feel that way. They laugh at my jokes too.

I chose one of them, Manuel Valenzuela, to be my next sitter for The Face of Ventura Project appearing in The Ventura Breeze. http://www.venturabreeze.com/He was painted from life in a single sitting of about two hours. We met when he showed up at studio Open House and bought a painting. We had a connection of mutual respect as artists. Read about this great guy here:

A New Day... A New Breeze

My FACE OF VENTURA PROJECT continues, our third sitter hitting the newstands today. I am finding this portrait series painted from life in conjunction with The Ventura Breeze so incredibly rewarding.

Click here to read the current Ventura Breeze. Page Seven features the two year project so far: http://www.venturabreeze.com/

A total of 52 people from the town will be painted, chosen by Breeze publisher Sheldon Brown, myself and the readership of this much loved town newspaper to reflect the modern face of this very old Californian historic mission town.

I wish to thank Sheldon for making this series a reality, his time and his support for it; and also each of my sitters, extraordinary folk who have a story to tell and honor me by letting me paint them - and sharing their life story with me. Our fifth sitter was painted today so I think we are official now!

Rachel, a dedicated environmentalist, and I had a lovely time together. She is a super smart lady and has much to teach people like me, my head usually buried in art. I learned from her. There was just so much to discuss as I am finding with EACH of my sitters. Gosh, and then I have to paint as well. Can't we just talk? NO, because the point of this project is the direct interaction between the sitter and myself. We get what we get around painting a portrait while we chat. The portrait becomes almost secondary to that interaction and bond. It is very powerful and rewarding.

Rachel Morris

Portrait by Johanna Spinks

Rachel Morris believes talking is fine, as long it leads to action. She’s worked on issues that range from af- fordable health care, to fair elections. From freedom of radio airwaves, to Native American rights. From gro- cery strikes to international peace. From natural childbirth, to natural building. Her passion now is climate change. She is the executive director and cofounder of VCCool, a non- profit organization that takes on global warming by promoting green living and green business in Ventura. Some friends think that she lives at #350 because of the big, sunny mural painted across her garage. Smil- ing she says – “Ac- tually it’s a re- minder of the safe upper limit of CO2 in our atmo- sphere, measured by parts per mil- lion. But you can find me by that. ”

Rachel is also a musician and song-writer. She is a retired dancer, farmer, and software designer. She has lived on the Avenue for six years. She has two daughters and two granddaughters. Rachel grows much of her own food, bicycles, and uses an African designed non- electric “refrigerator” to keep her food cool. She is also learning to take a day off now and then. One day she hopes to help start, and live in, an intention- al eco-community within Ventura. What do you like most about living in Ventura?

of potential. The people are involved and passionate. The City seems en- gaged and available. We have fantas- tic surf, with a freeway cutting us off. The Avenue Neighborhood is full of culture and history and great food, yet it doesn’t even have a lighted crosswalk on its busiest street in front of an elementary school. The weather is fantastic, the town is fairly level for the most part, yet streets haven’t been designed for safe bicycling. So much

to do, so much opportunity, and so many fantastic and gifted people working to polish the jewel in their own way.

And how was the ex- perience of having your portrait paint- ed by Johanna?:

I come from a family of artists, so being in a studio un- der an artist’s eye, the quick brush work, the blending of colors; really brought me back to my childhood. Johanna’s idea of a community portrait is such a beautiful one. It gave me a warm feeling be part of that, and to have my essence brought out in tones of orange and turquoise. Being surrounded by her other beautiful works, with the an- tique easel and oil smell, I felt like I had stepped into another world for a moment. It was also nice to see the camaraderie and support be- tween Sheldon and Johanna. I look forward to seeing her emerging cast

of paintings.

...being in a studio under an artist’s eye, the quick brush work, the blend- ing of colors; really brought me back to my childhood.