Dry-brushing appears to be my go-to method for painting hair. So of course, I’m going to shake things up and try oils for the next one!
Done while listening to an episode of the “Trekabout” podcast, which I’m choosing to name-drop just because I think it’s a podcast that should be on every discerning geek’s podcast playlist.
I have survived both the Xmas season AND my first few weeks back at a full-time job, so obviously, I’m going to push my luck and attempt another “30 Paintings in 30 Days” challenge! Nothing to it, amirite?
(In all seriousness, I really doubt I’ll be able to crank out all 30 paintings, but if I can produce maybe half of that, I’ll consider myself successful.)
My choice of theme this time around is a slight variation on the last one: instead of face studies, I’ll be doing hair studies. Painting or drawing hair has always been a weakness of mine and is usually where I cut corners. I’m hoping that this self-imposed hair-painting bootcamp will be just the thing to either cure me of my particular aversion or make me avoid it forevermore!
So here’s the first one out the gate! I had a lot less time to work on it than my face studies from the previous challenge so I went for a more simplified style. I miss my persnickety ways, but there’s a boldness to it that I like.
What I learned with this painting:
What I’ve learned with this theme so far (yes! already!):
I thought that it might be fun and different to try copying a proper oil painting. I was blown away by the Beaver Hall Group show at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts a little while back, so I opted for a classic 1920’s portrait by one of my favourite painters from that group, Lilias Torrance Newton.
I have… mixed feeling about this one.
First of all, you really should see it live and in person. Trust me – the colours of her hair have a nice depth, and her skin tones are far more delicate than what you see here. For some reason, WordPress just makes this one seem garish.
But wonky colours aside, I’m not sure about proceeding this way. I can look at this painting and know exactly where I stitched stuff together (and I will always see that!), and don’t get me started on how long it took to find all the right elements! Even when I got the right shoulder and head pose (and the hair!), it didn’t always follow that the shadows matched. In fact, finding all the reference images ended up taking much longer than the actual painting!
What I like about this painting:
What I like less about the painting:
What I learned through this process:
What I MIGHT change…
I won’t lie: I have really enjoyed the “30 Paintings in 30 Days” challenge (even if I’ve only done about half of it. I was a late beginner, after all). It was a fantastic opportunity to force myself to get comfortable with paint, as quickly as possible.
And it worked! Already, I can see a huge improvement in my painting over the last few weeks, and most of that can be attributed to the fact that the more confident I felt, the more I was willing to push myself. Heck, I even tried my hand at oil painting (shocker!), and not only did my studio NOT spontaneously combust, but I also managed to churn out some pretty decent work. High-fives all around!
BUT… there is one problem: all of the work I’ve done so far has been reproductions of images I’ve found on the internet. To be fair, I never claimed that they were original images, and have always been careful to title them as “studies”, but still my conscience is not clear. Someone else took the time to hire the model, the hairdresser and makeup artist, set up the lighting, rent the studio, develop the art direction, etc, etc. I didn’t have anything to do with any of that. All I did was say “Wow, I’d love to try painting that”, and then proceeded to do so. Most of the artistic decisions were made by someone else. In a way, this is just another variant of Fan Art, and I’ve already gone on at length about my problematic relationship with it.
Which means we’re right back at Square One: if I want to make completely original work, I need to photograph my own models. I don’t have the monetary funds for that, so the next best thing is to cobble together a few choice images and hope that the result is harmonious (or at least, a mostly harmless Franken-picture, if you will). Behold my first try (see above)!
And here’s where the fears and doubts come crashing in because now I’m the one making the artistic decisions. My mind is constantly second-guessing, oh, just about everything, and I’m having a lot less fun. I’m even dredging up some serious existential garbage from my subconscious, wondering “Is this what it means to be an artist? Because, quite frankly, I don’t know if I have the strength of character to pull off a lifetime of these insecurities!” Honestly, how does Rose Miller of Wolfgang and Rose make it look so easy?
Just so we’re clear, I may have a few more meltdowns before this picture is done, but I promise to give it my best shot!
EMMA PITTSON 