Natalie is an artist friend. She and her husband (another artist, coincidentally!) agreed to model for me. I’ve taken a series of photos and plan to use them as the basis for some paintings. This is the first effort!
I enjoyed painting her skin tones, and had fun with her jacket. “Less is more,” and I figured that I’d be better off if I left her clothing loosely rendered. Sometimes it’s best to quit while you’re ahead!
I feel I struggled with this one, and it’s been “abandoned,” more than “finished.” While I can definitely tell that I’m improving as an artist, most of the time I feel like I have so, so, so far to go.
But all one can do is keep on trying! I’ve been painting and drawing long enough to know that eventually, I get “there.” But then “there” is never “there,” it’s always “just ahead.” You never really arrive at a place where you think, “Wow, I’ve made it!” You’re always looking ahead and wishing for more improvement.
It’s hard for me to believe this when I see some other amazing artists around me. How can they not be completely satisfied with what they do now? How can they not know how fantastic they are? But most of the time, they grumble and think about this is wrong and that is awful and yuk, that section over there is terrible. Oh well. I guess nobody ever outgrows that, do they?
Sorry for the ramble about neurotic artistic nonsense. It’s been one of those days.
On to the next painting! That’s all you can do, isn’t it?
