Claire (detail)
+re-sized.JPG)
Oil on hardboard 12" x 12"
Last night's Studio session offered us Claire dressed up as a Quaker lady. I have severely cropped the image here to just show you her head. I'm not too happy somehow with the whole zoomed out thing. As I was painting I kept thinking - Whistler's mother - but when I Googled "Whistler's mother" to look at young James' effort, my goodness, what a lovely painting that is. I remembered it as being rather dark, uninteresting and a bit gloomy but it isn't - it is full of colour and sensitive paint handling.
posted by Sheila Vaughan at 10:04 AM
4 Comments:
Sheila, I happen to like the forthright manner in which you found the shapes and planes in every part of this profile, in particular, the model's face. To me, metaphors for how I see these no-nonsense, spare, and stalwart people. Ever been to a "Quaker Meeting?" The epitome of "If you don't have something worth saying; don't say it." I think you've said it, in this study.
Are you aware you have this thing going on right now, with "Mothers?"
No, I haven't been to a Quaker meeting but I have seen them on tv. Yes, maybe the sparseness of this image put me in mind of that process. Mothers - ah yes William, but don't we all have a thing going about them?
A superb portrait. I'd astounded by what you do at model sessions. So strong and sure.
XOBarbara
Thank you Barbara. One of the frustrating things about these sessions though is that often you feel you need "another session" with the same model in the same pose to do more work on the same painting. But that isn't possible. Most people in the room are ready to move on to something different the week after.
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