It’s better To Paint Trees

Posted on March 22, 2022 by Larry Marshall

“Everytime I paint a portrait, I lose a friend.” — John Singer Sargent

If the guy who is considered one of the best portrait painters of all time said this, what chance do I have when painting a portrait. I’ve never painted a portrait before. I’m also not very good at painting anything (grin).

These days I always find myself doing something I’ve never done before so why should this be any different? Some call it getting “out of your comfort zone.” Have you noticed, though, people who say that are always talking about what someone ELSE should do (grin). Anyway, I got it into my head that I wanted to paint a portrait of my daughter. Initially I was going to do it in oils but at the last minute decided to do a watercolor portrait.

There’s another piece of advice people give to wanna-be portrait painters. Get a good photo, with high contrast and with lighting that creates a distinct light and shade division of the face. Called Rembrandt lighting (named after the paints no doubt) this is supposed to make it easier to define the face on a two-dimensional surface.

So, what do I do? Well, when I was having a conversation with my daughter, using Google DUO, I did a bunch of screen grabs of her. Most were fuzzy because she was moving or blah because she just staring at her own phone. But one screenshot caught her with a smile. Unfortunately, most of the hair on the right side of her face was out of frame and my face, appearing in a little window, covered up the top left of her hair/forehead. The DUO symbol rested squarely on top of her right eye. So….as I did the underdrawing I had to reconstruct a bunch of my rather poor photo reference.

Undaunted by these facts and lack of artistic skill, I went to work, quickly learning that I still have a lot of problems mixing watercolors when the desired result is subtle value changes when working with light tones. I also learned that I have no idea how to paint hair that actually looks like hair. Oh well, here is the result. My daughter is so nice. In spite of it all, she’s still talking to me.

Tom Petty: 1950 – 2017

Posted on October 3, 2017 by Larry Marshall

I’m not one to have heros or to worship celebrity. But I am one who appreciates people who are the best at what they do and Tom Petty was one of those. As I write this I’m listening to I Won’t Back Down, a tune that was meaningful to me at a time in my life when meaning was important and hard to come by. I’m not much of a portrait artist but I felt the need to draw this. Rest in peace Tom.

I Don’t Do Portraits

Posted on August 21, 2015 by Larry Marshall

Oops…I guess I do.

One thing the art world has taught me is that I don’t have the “people are interesting to look at” gene. While everyone else attends life drawing classes and draws portrait after portrait, I prefer to draw fire hydrants, buildings and telephone poles. I don’t know why but if I were to rank sketching subjects, people would be at the bottom of my list.

BUT, sketching a person walking by a fire hydrant, that’s an interesting idea and so I spend a fair amount of time doing quick, loose sketches of people.

Yet another BUT is that I’ve come to realize that being able to draw a likeness can get you into places. My buddy, Yvan, is always drawing people and because of it people in groups immediately understand him and what he does. It’s harder to comprehend a fire hydrant sketcher.

Also, to me, there are several “core” skills that make up drawing. These are 1) the ability to measure/estimate angles and proportions, 2) achieve accuracy of line and form, and 3) mastery over whatever materials you’re using. I’ve spent the last 3 1/2 years, starting out trying to draw cubes, with a rather myopic “gotta learn those things” approach. I’m getting so that my ability to assess angles and proportions is becoming a feature, not a liability in my sketching, and I’m ok with pushing my fountain pen around (watercolor is another matter).

Canson Mi-Teintes (5x7), Namiki Falcon, De Atramentis Document Black - This is tough with pen but I barely know which end of a pencil to put to paper.

Canson Mi-Teintes (5×7), Namiki Falcon, De Atramentis Document Black – This is tough with pen but I barely know which end of a pencil to put to paper.

It seems, however, that fire hydrant drawing can only take you so far when trying to learn form and accuracy and so I’ve spent a lot of time in museums, drawing all sorts of stuff that I would never “choose” to draw, all in the name of improving my accuracy, ability to see half-tones, and the rest. I figure I only have another 40-50 years of doing it and I’ll have it figured out. By the age of 115, I might be able to call myself “artist.”

All of that is to say that I’m even drawing portraits… kinda. I head to a local park every Thursday night, where a small group sits on the porch of a small chapel and we sketch one another, during 20-minute poses. I’ve never mentioned it before because… well, I’m pretty bad at it. I thought, however, I would share a couple of the sketches I’ve done recently, just to change things up here just a bit. It’s ok to laugh.

Canson Mi-Teintes (5x7), Namiki Falcon, De Atramentis Document Black - I'm really lost when it comes to hatching really light shades that are the form of the face.

Canson Mi-Teintes (5×7), Namiki Falcon, De Atramentis Document Black – I’m really lost when it comes to hatching really light shades that are the form of the face.

Portrait Sketching in Quebec City

Posted on July 17, 2012 by Larry Marshall

I’ve been sketching for about ten months now. When I started my goal was to be able to draw some of the unique buildings here in Quebec. That is still my goal and I’ve been happy with my progress. Heck, I’d be happy with any progress as I spent most of my life believing you had to have special talents to draw.

I’ve approach that goal in single-minded fashion, first drawing a gazillion boxes and finally buildings. It’s only been recently that I’ve even added trees and such to my building sketches. I think that trying to keep it simple has helped me considerably as I climb the learning curve.

But I’ve met a group of sketchers that have me conflicted over my approach. They meet once a week and draw portraits. They are Yvan, Denis, Jean-Marc, Sylvie, Katherine, Catherine, Han, and Celine. While their names don’t mean much to you, take my word for it; these are some of the nicest, most talented people you’d ever want to meet.

I met some of them during our recent sketchcrawl, and I decided to attend their portraiture session last night. I didn’t sketch. As I said, I’m trying to stick with buildings and while the US Government can decide that corporations are people, I have a hard time convincing myself that people are buildings.

But the ‘esprit’ of that evening session, and the enthusiasm of its participants, is infectious and I’m afraid I have been infected. I shouldn’t. I know I shouldn’t. Stick with the plan, Larry. But…but…I feel the need to participate. My only participation last night, aside from being amazed by the sketches done by these artists, was to pose for a 20-minute session. It was fun. I hope to do it again. If you’ve ever wondered what I look like, this sketch by Yvan is a very good likeness.