Painting- The Mushy Middle Stage

I am at the mushy middle stage of this painting, knowing I will bring it 'home' but quite a lot of work to do still.

I said I would post it again as a 'work in progress' so hope you find it interesting. Those yellow arches on the left will disappear tomorrow. That is the original ground. and there is a lot of tweaking all around that needs to be done.

Most of all, I am working 'inside out'. Finishing an area almost to completion and then working outward from it. I find this a challenge and it is not my usual process but the great master artist Morgan Weistling www.morganweistling.com often works this way and he has inspired me, as he often does, to try new things around old concepts of hanging on to one's drawing, value control, and compostion concept.

Who knows...every painting or sketch has a 50/50 % chance of being a somewhat success or complete disaster. Don't ya think?

PS..unless you are Mr. Weistling.

Abract Head...365 Days Of Drawing

TENTH MONTH OF MY UNBROKEN CHALLENGE BEGINS TOMORROW

"Study the abstraction of the head!" master painter Morgan Weistling advised his students at The Weekend With The Masters in CA.

I was assisting Morgan last weekend and hanging onto every word and brush stroke he made on students canvases. I listen to anything this great painter says www.morganweistling.com

So for today's drawing I did an abstraction of the head invented by famed teacher Frank Reilly. You forget things unless you revisit. It was a good refresher for me. It has been quite a few years since I really looked at it and it sure got the drawing challenge for the day done.

The Value of Zorn...365 Days of Drawing

One of the many wise things Morgan Weistling said (www.morganweistling.com) in his teaching workshops at Weekend With The Masters this past weekend, was if an artist wanted to really learn how to paint, he should copy Anders Zorn's etchings.

This made me really happy as I have been doing this through the yearly drawing challenge quite regularly including last night with my red BIC pen.

Dog Tired...365 Days of Drawing

A VERY long wonderful day finishing off the final day assisting Morgan Weistling, www. morgan weistling.com, at The Weekend With The Masters in CA.

I had a long drive home at day's end so knew I had to get a quick sketch done in his workshop between my assisting duties which started EARLY. People don't realize when they walk into a workshop room with two model set-ups in a strange non-art hotel conference room, with lighting to work out, etc., that people behind the scenes get there WAY ahead of time.

Anyhow, in a workshop, as I know from my own, the most quiet part is that first 30 minutes when people are staring at their OWN blank canvases slightly terrified. The Master, aka Morgan, doesn't have much to correct at this point, and the assistant, aka ME, can grab a sketch.

This was my moment. How I wish it was better. However, my Motel room neighbors kept me awake until 2 am the night before with a party of their own, and my alarm went off at 6.15 a.m. So I forgive myself.

MOST of all, thank you to Morgan Weistling for the privilege. He shared his EVERYTHING this weekend as he always does when he decides to teach. It is a RARE privilege.

Do I wannabe Vermeer or Asaro?

I had the exquisite pleasure of visiting master artist Mr. John Asaro at his CA studio this week after he read my blog, see previous post http://portraitpaintingbyjohannaspinks.blogspot.com/2009/03/john-asaro.html about his recent mega show in Los Angeles, and called me out of the blue with a lovely invite to come and shoot the art breeze.  www.johnasaro.com

I was desperate to get up to his studio but had to finish a large portrait commission first. It killed me to keep putting him off. But Mr. Asaro graciously waited for me and couldn't have been more sharing of his wisdom the day of the visit or his time. I was in heaven. Just one of those great art days one will never forget. I learned a lot.

Asaro is one of my favorite painters. Morgan Weistling www.morganweistling.com  told me I should study this guy, buy the book. so I did. Like Morgan, Asaro's color, values, and draughtsmanship is superb. Nah, make that unbeatable. Asaro's now out of print book " Asaro: A New Romanticism", is always close by me. What a treat to see some of these images at first hand. Breath-taking color. You just feel that sunshine.

So I came back to my studio and painted this head not only inspired by Asaro's color but also by my other idol Vermeer and his "Red Feather Hat" painting.  I am doing a series of paintings of girls in vintage hats from my collection, all over life size and on the same size canvas.  When I saw this hat it screamed Vermeer and I have been itching to paint it.

Now was the time. I was thinking of what Asaro had told me about color as I got going on my hat set under a cool blue light with cool blue gel. The red was a challenge. My feather hat and skin tone was very garish the end of the first day. Too much fun with color but not in Asaro's capable hands.

The next day I reigned it in a bit looking at how Vermeer used those cool greens and warm oranges in the shadow much like Asaro.  How Vermeer kept the shape of his red hat strong, the value statement of light and shadow bold, much like Asaro.  Vermeer's  ever so subtle color play theory has stood the test of color time.

And, just like Vermeer,  contemporary figurative painter Asaro will go down as one of the greats of our time, of that I am sure.

So do I want to be a Vermeer or Asaro wannabe?  Both are superbly stimulating to me as superior value/colorists but very different in approach.

Heck, I'll just stick to being me but always remember how the greats do it and what I am striving for. The bar is set high.