This is actually a detail from the 11″x14″ oil on linen posted below. I painted this lovely girl in her kimono from life. As usual, I didn’t quite finish with the model in front of me and had to do a little more later from photographs.
I enjoyed painting this, I guess I never enjoy painting anything as much as I enjoy painting figures. They’re also the hardest to find! By that I mean I can drive around until I find a landscape that interests me and paint that, or I can go to the grocery store for fruit and flowers, then the resale shop for still life props (a favorite thing to do!) and I’ve got the makings for a still life. But with figures . . . . I need cooperation from a model!It would do me good to paint a model not just once a week but two or three times a week. I thought of sitting inconspicuously at a cafe and trying to paint people, but I’m not sure how realistic that is. Has anybody done this? I would love to hear about it.
I LOVE your figures. You have your own style, which is wonderful. I’ve never done figures, but my brother used to sketch figures on the train downtown to work. He had a great journal with a wealth of information. But he did say, he tried not to be conspicuous.
In my efforts to practice drawing people I was taking my sketchbook down to the local bagel shop and sketching (NOT PAINTING) other customers… Trouble is they generally wise up that you keep looking at them and they get up and move.
HOWEVER… I’ve discovered something else that works fairly well (and which I will soon blog about)… I freeze frame a scene from one of my TV programs and sketch the character that I’ve “frozen”… then let them go and continue with the TV program… LOL
I like what you’ve done with this painting… especially the close up detail of it!!
I keep saying I’m going to ask people up to the house to pose for me but I’ve never done it… I think you could get some more “meaning” from the pose that way.
Hi Joan, Lovely robe on this one…I know Susan has painted in cafes, maybe ask her about how she went about it?
Thank you Janelle, Marian, and Karen for your comments and suggestions! I suppose if I really want to paint people in a cafe I should start by trying to sketch them, just to see if I’m comfortable with that. I don’t have high hopes for this little plan right now, but I’ll keep you all posted.
Joan