Kristen

Posted by moonminded on January 30, 2015 in Art, Portraits | Leave a comment

This portrait began life as the lovechild of Hillary Clinton and a Japanese Oni. I know because I took a few early pictures to document progress, which has been S  L  O  W. Funnily enough, when I took the first photos, it was because I felt I was off to a great start (likely from imbibing my aunt’s obscenely potent Thanksgiving pomegranate martinis while drawing with her in the guest room). That’s how long I’ve been off and on with this drawing. I wanted it to be my swan song of 2014 — or even my harbinger of 2015. At this point, I’m happy for Still-in-January. But, I love it. I love it because although a slave to my M.O. (proceeding to render sections in-depth prior to setting solid scale and proportion) I actually sucked it up, put engines in full reverse, and erased some pretty developed eyes (moved ’em down) and lips (up, up!) to create a likeness, instead of just a face. I adhered truthfully to Phil “God of Art Instruction” Sylvester’s adage “Drawing is just a series of corrections.” Five years from that fabulous class I find that I can see better and work a little quicker, so I’m not as afraid to let go of the time I invested in my miscalculations. I feel like this significant-do-over to-a-better-end is the most I’ve “improved” in a long time –It’s all in the How. So true of so many things we do.