Inspiration Fridays! Who are you painting?

Who are you painting?

Learning about someone without words is an incredible gift.

“Are we to paint what’s on the face, what’s inside the face, or what’s behind it?” – Pablo Picasso

These days, being able to see people as they are instead of who I think they are, or want them to be seems more and more important to me. I’m not as interested in small talk, and half the time, my words may just be getting in the way.

When someone sits with you and gives you the opportunity to paint their portrait, you have been given a real gift, and so have they. There is an ineffable exchange that takes place between the painter and the sitter. Something is being created that is bigger than the sum of the two. When is the last time that you spent a few hours looking at someone? Just looking.

People are fascinating. I never grow tired of looking at people. No, I’m not talking about being creepy on the subway. I’m talking about being an artist and seeing the wholeness of somebody for the first time. I have painted friends that I’ve known for years and never really seen before. It’s almost like I have to get out of the way in order to really see my friends.

 

Portrait of Naomi Lipper - oil on canvas - 24”x48”

Portrait of Naomi Lipper – oil on canvas – 24”x48”

Painting our loved ones can be the hardest. We come to these paintings with our stories already written. Are we painting who we think they are? Are we painting how we feel about them, or how we think they feel about us? Or are we just concerned with getting the nose right so we don’t have to sleep on the couch? All of a sudden, our painting matters in a different way than it did before.

What do you see when you paint a portrait? Of course you will see lips, eyes, nose, skin… You might even start off by seeing what you assume that the person looks like. Eventually though, that too falls away, and you begin to see this person in front of you for the first time. Really see them. There is something beyond characteristics and description. It’s the thing that connects us all. What you are seeing is our humanness.

Have you ever tried to paint someone from life?

Have you seen someone you know as if for the first time?

Who are you painting?

 

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Inspiration Fridays! Can you finish your own paintings?

Can you finish your own paintings?

There is power in the beginning of something.

“I start a picture and I finish it.” – Jean-Michel Basquiat

When I’m staring at a blank canvas, with an idea in mind, it’s almost like I’ve had a good night of sleep and a couple of cups of coffee to boot. I can’t wait to dive in and get started. Those first marks can be almost anything. There’s no right or wrong, only the energy of possibility. A kind of reckless discovery pushes me forward. Watching as lines, colors, and shapes begin to emerge, sometimes I feel almost more like an observer than a participant. It’s marvelous.

This kind of inspired momentum is almost addictive, and if you’ve ever spent much time painting, you’ve probably experienced it at least once or twice. We are all in. Time is just a word, and we are lost to the thrill of the chase.

And then… The game shifts. We check in and step back. Our critical mind takes over. We begin to analyze, review, and dissect.

 

8paint Inspiration Fridays Can you finish your own paintings?

Painting Cynthia for the Learning to See Alumni from yesterday.

This is a crossroads. How you move forward from this point will dictate the success or failure of your painting. There are aesthetic decisions to be made, but who gets to make them?

Your analytical brain begins to think about how the composition, colors, and shapes may be working. Your critical brain wants to know if what you have painted is any good.

At this point, you may inadvertently begin entertaining visitors.

“What would my spouse say if they walked in?”
“Would my relatives approve?”
“Will this fly on Instagram?”
“Will my friends think that I have lost it?“
“The art world will say that I’m a hack.”

Your studio is empty. No one is even there! And they certainly can’t finish your painting for you. Even if they could, not one of them is qualified to be you. It’s your painting, your creative process, and the final decisions are yours to make unfettered by others’ imagined opinions.

At the end of the day, when you look critically at your work (and you will) the most important question to entertain is “do I like it?“ Some paintings explode from the starting gun and rocket to the finish line. Most paintings manage to run and also to fall. To get up again, walk for a bit, run for a bit, stumble, recover, and finally, they find their way to the finish line. Just make sure that you are running your race.

Do you paint your paintings from beginning to end?

Do others opinions affect the way that you approach your art?

Can you finish your own painting?

 

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Inspiration Fridays! Are you afraid to face your drawing?

Are you afraid to face your drawing?

I make a lot of noise about drawing.

“Have you seen that portrait Gauguin did of me painting sunflowers? It was really I, but it’s I gone mad.” – Vincent van Gogh

I love to draw, and I found that having a good grasp of drawing has helped my art to be infinitely more powerful. I get to choose what I want to dial in, and when I want to let the form go completely. Instead of being trapped in the drawing, I get to play with it.

There’s no place more exciting to play with our drawings then when we are traveling through the facets of a Portrait. The subtle nuances of the human face can be hilarious or even tragic. Our faces are infinite, and they reflect the fullness of the human spirit. And sometimes, that’s shallow and petty. But other times the process of drawing or painting another human being is life at its most profound.

 

8paint Inspiration Fridays! Are You Afraid To Face Your Drawing?

Various faces – Gabriel Mark Lipper

But there is no shortcut here. The Portrait can be one of the most frustrating things to draw and paint when we don’t have the tools. And this frustration ends up, tracking us down in other parts of our artwork as well. This is because a good understanding of drawing is at the heart of the portrait. Not how to draw the face specifically, but just how to see shapes in relationship. The portrait is unforgiving that way. We know when we have screwed it up because we’re used to looking at people’s faces. Our identities are caught up in our faces.

Have you ever tried to draw 10 faces? Put the paintbrush down for a second and just try drawing faces. Faces are amazing! If you are seizing up and unhappy with the results, switch to your non-dominant hand. Now look at what you’ve done! These things are fun!

If you can draw a recognizable face, you can paint anything. There’s a lot of freedom there.

What is your favorite thing to draw?

Do you ever draw faces?

Are you afraid to face your drawing?

 

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