Oil of youngest son

[Linda Brandon]

Originally Posted by Lon Haverly

I really started this subject as an experiment with my new camera for the camera's sake. Then, I thought it would be fun to paint it.

Frankly, I never paint from life, when you have all this technology at your fingertips. I would be hard pressed to find anyone who would pose for me from life, as I take a few days for the simplest of paintings.

I draw from life almost exclusively, because my sketches are brief, sketchy, impressionistic drawings.

Linda, what makes this such a dead giveaway that it is from a photograph, if you had not seen the reference photo?

And, is it not OK to work from photos in some trains of thought? Especially if they are your own?

Hi again Lon,

There are a lot of magnificent paintings being made from photographs. There are also a lot of terrifc portrait artists who work solely from photos and do very well at it. If you search around the Forum there are a lot fo discussions about this. The artists who turn out fantastic paintings from photos tend to spend a great deal of time lighting and posing the subject. There are a lot of portrait styles out there and so it's hard to generalize.

The open-mouthed smile, the blown-out lights, the high light-shadow ratio and the hardness of your edges are all things that indicate "working from a photo". Again, not a problem for you IF this is what you're after stylistically.

You already have a big gift for translating three-dimensional form onto a two-dimensional surface. It seems to me that a large part of your own personal "language" as an artist will be lost when you chose to follow a photo and abandon working from life. It just seems to me that you're trying to silence a gift you have and I hope that you won't.

[Lon Haverly]

The edges - that is a clue. The open mouth, well, I draw the open mouth very often from life, but I have never painted it. Truthfully, I have never painted from life, something I would like very much to master. Perhaps then, I will fully grasp what you are talking about. I just can't find any willing models. The lighting - weren't there high contrast paintings done by the old masters with limited light sources? That is what I like. It will take some experimentation to see if it is worth trying.

I wish there were "purists" in my community to try to please. Unfortunately, many here do not even know the difference between a drawing and a painting. Those that do are hardly what you could define as purists.

However, perhaps I should consider stepping up to painting from life, and farther away from the photography thing, the direction I was going.

Thank you for your kind imput. I am honored.

[Michele Rushworth]

Hi Lon,

If you want to practice painting from life, you might want to contact the local high schools in order to hire models. That's what Bill Whitaker does.

As far as people in your community not knowing high quality work, I bet you could find a good market for your art in Portland. Looks like you are about two hours away, right?

[Lon Haverly]

I have looked into drawing in Portland, but without success. I have never had an art exibit, other than a kioske. Perhaps I should consider that. I have had very poor experiences with art gallery owners. But only in Eugene, where the art is so very bad. I will post another oil to see what you think.