Monday, January 27, 2020

How process changes -- finding a reference album




Sean
Acrylic on canvas
24 x 36 inches
Barbara Muir © 2007
SOLD 
(The painting is much lighter
than this.  I photographed a 
photo to get a clearer image
than I had on record in my blog.)

I've talked before about how wonderful it was painting
Sean for a set of three portrait commissions of his two sisters,
Madeline and Elizabeth and him.  The other day going through
shelves of stacks of sketchbooks, and pads of watercolour
paintings, I discovered an album of photos for portraits
and the portraits that resulted from a combination of
sittings and photos.  It was fascinating. All of this information
packed in an 8 x 10 inch photo album.

Today if I take photo reference, I work from large prints
made by a wonderful local printer.  I am working on a large
scale portrait drawing (3 x 4 ft.) right now -- not finished
enough to show you yet.  And the printer made me a bunch of
large scale images to use, that put together would make
one big photo.  I can refer to them as needed, and work from
a smaller image of the whole figure.

The studio in 2007 and Sean the model.
He borrowed the white shirt in each
session from my son.  
Sean was a treat to paint, as were his sisters.
So finding these small photo references made me
realize how quickly technology happens.  I painted
Sean in 2007, the last of three portraits that had
to work individually and together.  Together it
looked like the three children were sitting on a
couch.  The idea was that when they grew
up they could own their individual portraits.  That was
13 years ago, so I think Sean would be 28 now, and I
hope he is having a wonderful life.

Have a loving your life day.

No comments:

Portrait Artist

My photo
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
I paint and draw on commission and for shows. To commission a portrait, or purchase one of my paintings please contact me at: barbara.muir@sympatico.ca
A major highlight in my career? Drawing Oprah Winfrey live via Skype for her show "Where in the Skype are you? Galleries: Studio Vogue Gallery, Toronto, Canada. The Amsterdam Whitney Gallery, New York City. Gallery at the Porch Door, Kingston, Canada. Your positive comments on this blog mean the world to me. I'd love to hear from you!