Painting from life

I'm in the process of  trying to renovate.


I must admit though that this process is really dragging out mainly because I don't want to give the time  to chase tradesmen and hang around waiting for them to show up to quote. I made a major input some four months ago....walls came down, kitchen pulled out, furniture moved and stacked all over the place....then my young builder left to go back to his 'real' job.... you see I was his 'fill-in' on wet-days, 'waiting-for-architect-approval-days, and generally on days when his 'real' work, his contractors job, had stalled.


I'm digressing here.... but.... because of the reno, clean-ups are happening.


and it's amazing what is uncovered when you look into old folios found in an artist's cupboard!


I found these sketches, in pastel, done from life in 1993. I'm surprized they've survived the 'toss-out' bug....I'm pretty good at spring-cleaning old drawings and paintings!


they are quite rough....sketches done in less than an hour....but I'm posting them to illustrate how my art has moved away from traditional realism. 
from a traditional representative way of painting to a looser....oh and how I wish it was so much looser! ....interpretive way of painting the figure.
seeing these reminds me how much I love working from life, working from the model.







drawing from life
Jo-Ann Hunt
H750x550mm
H29x22ins
pastel on Mi-Tientes paper
1993









I was tempted to 'fix' his eyes....they are a tad wonky, and to make them darker....to 'fix' the tonal ranges of their skin, to rework them....but then I thought I'd just post them in all their unfinished raw glory!
If I was a  Portrait Painter... and hey....there's still plenty of time!.... I would do a number of these sketches before starting  on my canvas.....

drawing from life
Jo-Ann Hunt
H750x550mm
H29x22ins
pastel on Mi-Tientes paper
1993

detail








and then there was this.
another session,  another 'sketch'....just a couple of years back, painted from life in oils.
this painting is probably 4.5 hours worth, over 3 short sessions,  a week apart.... because the oil paint needed time to dry....

painting from life
Jo-Ann Hunt
H460x610mm
H18x24ins
Oils on Canvas

and obviously when I first set up my easel the bed support wasn't in position! neither was our young model....who happened to have the whitest skin I've ever seen on anyone....all that foreshortening....so tricky to draw to say not much!
(and to protect the classification rating on this blog and our young friend, I've added my tools of choice to the battered canvas....it was either cover the paint splotches,dents and scratches or protect both our reputations!)
 now all this wordiness and circumlocution (pun intended) is just to say ... yes I can draw.... I believe everyone is born knowing how to draw ....
and yes, can be 'retaught' if you don't believe me....



 ....but that's a possible topic for another post!





                                                          Jo x