In the past, I’ve done portraits and figures and tried to invent the background. Not always successfully, not always effectively. And not really understanding what the problem is/was.
Now I’m working on figures WITH backgrounds (from photos) that make some good compositional sense.
With some jobs, you get a snow day. I took a snow week. (Hey, there’s still snow in my yard – that counts.) Didn’t get to the studio to paint, but sketched on light rail and painted one chicken this week.
You know that procrastination you do about that thing that scares you? I joined a Meet Up group online that lists local live model figure drawing classes weekly. Week after week I received the notices. After week. After week. Then I made it a New Year’s resolution to go. Today I did. It was easy, perfect, relaxed, serious. Yay!
I DO like doing portraits. I do, I do!
"Not knowing how to do it is part of knowing how to do it." - Leon Kossoff 