Posted on July 27, 2013, in 2013, An Artist's Life, Art in general, Creative Process, New York, NY, Pastel Painting, Photography, Quotes and tagged 1989, accomplish, active duty, adequate, Alexandria_VA, artist, artistic anatomy, bored, charcoal, choice, class, client, coincide, commission, commuting, completed, computer analyst, decisions, develop, devote, drawing, existence, figure, final, found, Georgetown University Medical School, gross anatomy, income, interest, kind, life, life drawing, loathe, make a living, making, miserable, Navy, Navy Reserve, need, New York, New York Academy of Art, pastel, Pentagon, photo-realist, portrait, prepared, provide, remain, remember, resign, run, semester, small, soft pastel on sandpaper, sometimes, spoken, terrifying, The Art League School, thinking, using, volunteer, want, Washington_DC, work. Bookmark the permalink. 4 Comments.
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Barbara, I think within your paragraph is the answer to why people rarely ask me to do a commission (sometimes they’ll ask hesitantly but never actually do it). They can readily see, in the sort of work I do, that there’s no need for direction or additional input. But in my ‘realism,’ there’s much to discourage someone looking for a template likeness (in a portrait or portrait study) since my eye-hand-delivery is not always flattering but is, instead, a deeper drive. That can be a bit scary for most.
Carol, as an agency-represented “portrait artist,” strictly defined, my task was to create a photo-realist likeness that more or less captured a person’s own self image. I was well-paid for this and I was good at it. In your work “likeness” does not come into play nearly as much as do other layers of meaning.
when i saw this portrait of Bryan i almost cried. it is so real. i am so sorry for your loss Barbara. you definitely have the knack for portrait work, but i completely understand not wanting to do commissions. me neither. listen to your intuition, girl.
Thank you, Anna. I always do (listen).