Sunday, April 24, 2011

two-hour Kate

Not only does Kate have a full time job, but she is also in a play at the Flea, so modeling for me is way down on her to-do list. But when she has a couple of hours on the weekend, as she did yesterday, she comes over and sits for me. I figure that with only two hours every now and again, I should just go for it and paint as good a picture of her as I can in the time allowed. So this was my first sortie into the territory of alla prima portraiture. I found it a little nerve-wracking, but invigorating - kind of like an athletic event. And in the end the study is both not as good as I hoped it would be (I didn't get back to correct the values on the nose, for instance) and better than I expected because it actually does look like her. So I hope she comes back soon for another try!

2 comments:

Tom Ellis said...

This is stunning! I love the contrast between the piercing, naturalistic left eye, the variegated impressionism of the flesh tones and shadows, and the stark white frame, as if she were peering through a paper cut-out. Impressive work!

sarah meredith said...

Thanks, Tommy - I wish all that had all been as intentional as you make it sound!!