Does the idea of painting a portrait of someone you know scare you? It does me. That's why I take so long to do one! I don't want to mess up. And I know my drawing skills are not at the level to free-hand draw the portrait on the paper so...I usually fiddle with my photo program, blow up the photo, and print it out and then trace the features. And I still get off balance with the color and shapes when I'm painting!
John Singer Sargent hated painting portraits and dealing with the vagaries of human nature later in his life. He is quoted as saying, "Every time I paint a portrait, I lose a friend." And "A portrait is just a painting with something wrong with the mouth." Sounds like he had a lot of complaints about his work - no wonder he went back outside and painted in watercolor, free and easy. A tree will never say, "You didn't get that branch right at all!"
When you don't know the person - or are just painting a generic female or male or child, it's a lot easier. You can paint eyes, a mouth, a nose and ears that are human-like enough to pass. When you are painting someone people know that will be hung on the wall for family to see, then you want to get it right so it looks like the person.
So...I'm working on updated portraits of all three grands and it's taking some time.
Plus, I haven't done my lesson for this week in the Val Webb online class! Oh, dear!!
Of course, all this doesn't mean I'm sitting here watching soaps and eating bon-bons, so stay tuned for something soon.
