Show this weekend!

Hope everyone who’s local can go to the Croton Artisans’ amazing show this weekend. Our wonderful core members will be selling their work, along with a terrific set of guest vendors. I have to miss it this year, but you can always schedule a sitting in studio or send me photos!

Half-Hour Portrait

I am a sucker for a face with good angles.

Half-Hour Portrait

Sweet little face. 

Half-Hour Portrait

My post about Andrew got me thinking about artists who have influenced me through the years. First, there was my mom. Mostly I remember feeling frustrated as a kid because I couldn’t draw as well as she did. (It took me a long time to accept that I couldn’t teach myself everything I needed to know about how to do anything.) Fast forward to the University of Michigan, and my first life drawing class. I don’t remember the teacher’s name. She wasn’t friendly, she wasn’t encouraging, and she was very tough. I thought of her as the “drill instructor.” But she taught me the value of working fast. I certainly don’t paint quickly all the time, and the half-hour time limit requires a very high level of concentration, but I really value the looseness it forces on me.

Half-Hour Portrait

Today while working on a portrait, I thought about how very much I learned about painting faces from Andrew Lattimore. It’s been a long time since I studied with him, but often, as today, I’ll find that Andrew’s voice joins my internal discussion as I work my way through a painting. (Not the times when I’m throwing a temper tantrum—that’s all me.) Anyway, when it happens, it’s nice to have the company.