Thursday, February 21, 2008

Tweak, Tweak



I've said it before, what I like about the medium of acrylic is that I can make many, many changes without waiting days and days for paint to dry (as one must suffer through in oil). That's the watercolorist coming out in me...a certain comfort level with working quickly and spontaneously. The changes I made in Gloria's portrait are mostly in the hair and a little in the light blue background. It was all accomplished within hours of my previous post. Now I know that if you are an oil painter reading this, you are thinking "yea, but there is so little time to blend". Not an issue with me because I like to paint in a style where blending is not front and center. And if I must do a little, I do it fast (as one needs to do in water color!). You also are probably thinking..."not enough contemplation time while the paint is drying". I don't want loads of contemplation time. I have been known to come back to a painting weeks and even months later to make a change or two but it is a rare occurrence. I like to work within a relatively short time frame (as compared to oil) and at an intense level.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

OK now I am at Elliott's on his computer, let's see if this works. What I was trying to tell you is how much I love this portrait because you really captured the escence of Gloria's personality. Has she seen it?

Sandy

David Lobenberg said...

Thanks and yea for Elliott's computer!

Anonymous said...

Hey David, you are a good portrait artist! This one and the water color portrait are just beautiful. Love the variety of colors in the shadow side of this lady's hair.

David Lobenberg said...

Thanks Silvina: Go to capitolmuseum.ca.gov, then key in "jerry brown" in the search box. At the time, his portrait was considered outrages. Seems pretty tame now, but I loved it when I first saw it about 23 years ago (my, how time flies!!!!)

Anonymous said...

David I just saw the J. Brown portrait. Outragous!!! It looks like a caricature of him. I mean, I think it's neat, but seriously too casual a style to hang with the others. Wow, only in California.