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Originally Posted by Ilaria Rosselli Del Turco
I recently read an essay by Antonia Byatt about portraits. She was saying that a photo (and a portrait from a photo ?!), because it is a record of a moment lost in time, that will never return, is ultimately about death. A portrait, painted in a certain period of time, not to mark the instant but to look for someone's personality and special features, it's about life.
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Nice painting, Ilaria!
Interesting that you post this, Ilaria. Recently I've been painting from life in multiple sittings and what is happening is that I am finding that people move very slightly and if I like something better than what I've painted earlier, I change it. This is another reason to keep things loose and painterly early on.
This is also making me think that I am a terribly subjective painter - I'm looking for what I like best about a subject, and I'm emphasizing it, or else I'm tweaking the painting to make somehing even more beautiful in my own judgment. When you work from a photograph you have only the judgment of the photograph. Of course you can tweak this too, it's just that it's one step removed from the actual physical experience of being around your model.
I'm also convinced that human eyes see things differently in terms of perspective than does a camera but I am still trying to figure this one out.
Marvin said something recently to the effect that an artist really only paints him/herself in every portrait... Marvin come in and correct me here if I'm quoting you incorrectly?
Ilaria, I would really like to read that essay.
And Holly... once again, a lovely painting, full of life.