Thoughts in the USA

Seriously, it's a good show.
Or, as Minnesotans would say: "It's an above-average show. You Betcha."

There is something very scary and very exciting in putting your own creation on a strange wall.
It's scary because my painting is now exposed to the critical (or worse: indifferent) eye of the world.
It's exciting for the very same reason. A whole new experience.

Mine is a portrait of a woman.

I am getting more and more into figures and portraits, which I enjoyed through drawing so far, and just recently started to dare expressing them in watercolors.
A challenging subject, in a challenging medium.

And since CherkyB persists that it cannot be that JohnnyB hasn't done anything stupid in nearly a year, I feel obliged to share an anecdote that shows the, Hmm, well, joy of an artist and an engineer living together.

I'm currently taking a Watercolor Portrait workshop. Unfortunately, no live models.
(For the non-painters among you: no, it does not mean we paint corpses. It merely means we paint from photo references...).

Anyway, We were asked to bring photographs as follows: 3/4 view of an old person, profile of a young person, and full view of a baby's face.
I was frantically browsing through dozens of pictures, and John came in, trying to put his 10 cents into the process.
He found me gazing with awe at a very powerful photograph of my 80 year old aunt, which I took about 18 months ago, admiring the great light pattern, the calligraphic wrinkles, the wonderful shapes - - -

- - - and John cheerfully said: "go for this one!".

"No, we need a 3/4 view for an aged face", I reminded him.

"So, what's the problem?", wondered the one and only.

"This is a profile" I explained, with a lot of patience.

"No it's not!", defied the know-all. "It's 7/8!"

I hit the floor laughing, tears in my eyes, spleen exploding and all.
...10 minutes later, when I managed to recover my breath, John, obviously and utterly offended, informed me that if I ever ask him to pose for me, he will give me 1/16, at most. For a portrait, that is!!!
Wiping my eyes, I realized with sheer sorrow that it's one of the most hilarious things John has ever said, but the tragedy is that nobody will understand how hysterically funny it is.

That is, nobody except portrait painters/photographers/sculptors.
(Jim, the legendary figure drawing teacher, choked on his coffee when I shared the joy with him, and took 5 good minutes to get back to a relatively respectful state of being).

Still, it's worth documenting.

Labels: Art, Wonders of The JohnnyB

# posted by Nava @ 3:41 PM