Thank you for your enthusiasm. Oma and Opa are not relatives. Oma and Opa are special people. They each have a story to tell a life lived and moments cherished. Still each in their own way reminisce as they wait for the moment of rest.
Most each portrait that I have done thus far has a interesting story behind it. Like the gent with the baseball cap posted by me recently. He in his youth was a soccer ref and I met him at a bus station. I was so attracted by his simple manner that I could not resist but to speak with him. While we talked I learned a lot about his life. In the end I told him that I am a artist and that if he would not mind to let me take a photo of him.

I am sure you will enjoy working from the cast I know I did. One thing that really helped me was the standard set by the academy. Each student was pushed beyond their capabilities. So, try to set your standards beyond your capabilities and the results will come. It helped me learn to see.

I am from former Yugoslavia now known as Serbia and Montenegro. My last bike was a chomped 750 Triumph. Someone stole it some time ago. Even though many a times I thought about getting another I decided against it for many reasons. I think I'm better off without one to many non drivers on the road now days. No matter how careful you are there is always that one that will not be paying attention and cause the accident. If you know what I mean.

Can you get the book Head and hands by Andrew Loomis? I think this will help a lot with your speed and accuracy. If by chance you cannot find it I can e-mail the files to you. Let me know. I am not sure how to faster send large files?

Jean:

I did some digging and found a couple of the paintings you posted here, so now I have work to attach to the name I will remember you for sure. Can I just say I loved the painting of Noah, lovely and fresh and the light is beautifully caught. I know it's a bit old now, but I had to resort to the site search to find some of your work. I'd love to see what you're doing now. Is there a more recent posting you can point me to?

Terri:

Thank you very much! It is a lot of work to keep the site up to date, but I enjoy it so its not really work. Sometimes I think I should post less and draw more though.

Ah, and you have a site! Yet again I find myself humbled by the quality of members' work here. The stand out piece for me was the portrait of Angel from 2004. I love the way you have the sitter pose for a photo next to the painting. You have absolutely caught her - I always think a good test of likeness is if the portrait still catches something about the sitter even when the pose is different.

Mischa:

That's a nice story about the guy you met at the bus station. I found the painting you mention, it's very nicely done.

Very good advice which I intend to follow, thanks. Perhaps I'll post my first attempt at a sight size drawing with my new cast so everyone can have a good laugh.

I knew I shouldn't have mentioned bikes. Now I'm having to stop myself ramble on about them and get myself banned for going off topic before I even get started. Suffice to say that the various bones I've broken over the years know exactly what you mean.

I couldn't find the Loomis book on Amazon (.co.uk), I found one called 'Drawing the head', but I assume that's not the one. I'll have to try some of the bookshops in London. Thanks for the offer to email the files, but let me see if I can find it first - it will be nicer to have the actual book and I can add it to my rapidly growing collection of tutorial books.

Paul and Mischa you should purchase "The Language of Drawing" by Sherrie McGraw, Bright Light Publishing. It is expensive, but worth it...her draftsmanship is masterful...truly amazing.

Well Paul, I tried a search on me and not much came up. I can see why you couldn't find much! Look up "Rebecca and Tootsie" for my latest, and "Jux" for a fun one. I'm glad you like "Noah", he will always be a favorite of mine.

Jean

Thanks for that Joy, I looked it up at bright publishing, came accross this quote:
[QUOTE]
Learning to draw by memorizing information or working with methods robs the student of drawing

Paul, I've had to get over any fear of "painting in public". I'm unable to take workshops due to injuries so I rely on this forum and the generous artists here to be my school. I consider them my personal angels on my shoulders, they catch me if I start to fall to badly. Don't be afraid to take risks--my mantra is, "jeez, it's only paint"! Noah is one of my favorites, he was delightful to work with.

Jean

Fear becomes anticipation, anticipation becomes excitement!

Paul, hi from just a few km away.
I hope this forum will inspire you to produce more portrait work too
Ilaria

Hello, Paul! I just spotted this thread and I'm delighted to see you and your wonderful work here!

Geesh - it's like a friendly cocktail party or something on this thread.

Welcome Paul! I havent seen your blog yet, but I will. I just had to pop in and say welcome....I'll be ****ed if I will be left out of a party. :sunnysmil

Jean:
hehe, I like it. Serious point well made. When I go sketching down the local cafe its great to be able to think 'well its just a sketch' and not get too precious about it. Its surprising what can come out sometimes.

Hi Ilaria, nice to meet you.

So do I. Actually, its been inspiring me in all sorts of ways.

I've just spent some time on your website, and will be visiting again soon. I love the way you paint. What struck me first was the painterliness (is that a word?), the way the backgrounds are left so nice and loose then gradually the paintings seem to strengthen around the figure, and then more on the face and hands, it gives the portraits a real presence.

The next thing that struck me (I was on the 'open studio' page at the time,) was that despite having a really distinctive style (I think I could already pass one of your paintings and know it was by you), they are all so different. Am I right in saying that the open studio paintings are all from life? I think they're stunning. Does the colour scheme and the mood get suggested to you by the sitter?

I noticed you're descended from Cosimo Rosselli! I went off to find out some more about him, he has a fresco in the Sistine Chapel?

Whilst digging about, I noticed that the National Gallery have a painting by him, I'll visit it the next time I'm in town.

Now here's an interesting thing, because I ended up on the National gallery's website, I noticed that they have an exhibition starting TOMORROW called 'Americans in Paris, 1860 to 1900.' They're going to have some Whistlers, Cassats and Sargents there including Symphony in White, the Boit Daughters and Madame X. Wow! And wouldn't you know it I have to work this weekend! Its on till May though so I'll be going in early March - I might bump into you there :)

Now there's a nice example of how much more benefit forums are when you get involved instead of just reading, I can't wait to get down to that exhibition and might have missed it.


Hi Linda, nice to see you again. I owe you a very big thank you for pointing me here, its been fascinating and I've only been here a few days. Your work is still inspiring me.

Hi Kimberly, very nice to meet you. Its funny, I'm usually one of the quiet ones on forums but since turning up here I haven't been able to stop nattering!

I've just been to your web site too. Yet more beautiful work. I really don't have time to have a proper look right now because I really must get some work done! I will be back for a proper look very soon though.

Mines a Caipirinha :)