Please click on paintings to view larger.

Thursday, December 31, 2009

"Different Strokes Portrait Challenge"





Karin Jurick's at it again, she has presented 180 keen artists with her second portrait challenge. Both times I have participated I have found it to be a very interesting experience painting an anonymous person, one you have never seen and know nothing about. In each case I have found that for the first few hours I am focused on shapes, drawing, trying to get things accurate. But as the person begins to unfold on the canvas, I start to notice the tiniest subtleties of expression that show their character, and as I am nearing the end, I feel a real sense of who this person is.


The biggest challenge with this portrait was that I didn't realize until very near the end that I had made the distance from her chin to her eye too short. There was a strong temptation to try and fix this by making some minor adjustments, but then I remembered something I had read about John Singer Sargent. "He never attempted to repaint one eye or to raise or lower it, for he held that the construction of a head prepared the place for the eye, and if it was wrongly placed, the understructure was wrong, and he ruthlessly scraped and repainted the head from the beginning." 


As I contemplated the options, this rang very true. For the purpose of this exercise I couldn't justify the time, but it certainly impressed upon me the need to step back and assess all of the relationships on the canvas more often during the painting process, and I will remember this in the future. 


See all the portraits here: http://differentstrokesfromdifferentfolks.blogspot.com/


Note: January 9th, 2010 
I have been in touch with the woman I painted, her name is Prabha Narayanan and she lives in India! How cool is that? You can view her work here: http://www.curveandline.blogspot.com/

34 comments:

  1. Hello, Liz,

    Wow, this is a magnificent portrait. Your "drawing" skills and handling of all the different textures in the subject are masterful.

    Congratulations and best of luck in 2010

    ReplyDelete
  2. I feel honoured to be painted by you Liz!
    I love the strokes, the colors, the whole effect of it! I am still pinching myself!
    Thanks!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Gorgeous portrait Liz. I am enjoying looking at your other incredible work too. I love the simple choice of color and then the addition of the blue earrings that really make this pop! Fantastic.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Beautiful Liz, you really seized the opportunity to lose those edges making this a dramatic piece...one of the best for sure. Love the way that earring pops.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for your quote about John Singer Sargent... I will have to remember that. Beautiful portrait! The blue earring really caught my eye...stunning!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Superb portrait! thank you for sharing the development of your painting,

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hey Liz,
    Anyone who(like me) knows Prabha would agree that the likeness that you have got in the painting is awesome... I dont know about the distance between the chin and the eye!... but you have got the sharpness of her eyes right and I think she does keep her chin up a bit(always)... very nice portrait... and yes the earrings are cool too...

    ReplyDelete
  8. Really lovely portrait! I must look at more of your work!

    Catherine

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a beautiful portrait you did. I love the mention of your struggle with the distance. John Singer Sargent and you are very right. Love the detail of the earring. Blessings to you for 2010

    ReplyDelete
  10. Admirable work, Liz.Ypur painting is so full of live.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thank you everyone for your wonderful feedback!

    Rohit, thanks for commenting on Prabha's portrait, it is wonderful to hear from someone who knows her that I captured her likeness. So cool that you guys are in India, our world has become so connected!

    Thanks to the internet and mostly Karin Jurick for that!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I'm so glad you participated so I could follow the breadcrumbs back to your blog and start following you. I look forward the wonderful pieces you'll paint in 2010.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Liz this is the kind of portraiture that feeds my soul! Thank you for the food and stunning piece!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I have met Prabha and have known her personally. And Liz has brought out Prabha's portrait so well, that I felt as if I am looking at her in person! Fantastic job, indeed! Ear ring.......well, no words!

    RK Murthy

    ReplyDelete
  15. This is a lovely piece Liz, obviously one of the favorites, mine included!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hi Liz!
    Prabha happens to be one of my closest friends and I must say your work is brilliant!
    Have a great year ahead!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Wow , What a portratit , its a masterpiece

    ReplyDelete
  18. Absolutely wonderful, Liz! Glad I "found" your blog!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Powerful piece! Love those sombre colours!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Wonderful blog and great paintings, Liz.
    Have a real Happy New Year and I look forward to see what you will be doing with your art.

    ReplyDelete
  21. It's a fabulous painting. I so loved the DSFDF challenge that Karin mounted. How wonderful of her to challenge all of us and how wonderfully you captured your unknown friend's likeness. My compliments. Jill Polsby in California

    ReplyDelete
  22. I left a comment before, but for some reason it did not take. This is absolutely phenomenal. I love the way subtle gradations in the skin tones, and that touch of brilliant blue on the earring is perfection. I think it takes a lot of courage to scrape and start over, but it is evident that your resulting painting is a huge success.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Thank you for appreciating my blog Liz...that's the beauty of anything creative...it reaches out to and connects people beyond the boundaries of distance and cultures. I viewed your website too and needless to say, the landscapes are most captivating :)

    ReplyDelete
  24. Dear Liz, after reading all the comments, there is nothing more to add. All has been said brilliantly. You captured this young lady with finesse, sensitivity, and perfect color. How lovely. Doesn't hurt that your subject has classic features either, does it?
    Whether the relationship of distances is totally accurate or not, you have created a very pleasing and beautiful person.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Liz, another wonderful painting from you. You seem to have gotten to the heart and soul of the subject, great entry!

    ReplyDelete
  26. One of the best portraits, Liz. You have really done it so well.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Thanks Arti! Love your blog “Artists of India”. There is an American artist who had done some lovely paintings from India that I’m sure you would enjoy, you can check them out here:

    http://www.scottburdick.com/2006scottBurdick.htm

    ReplyDelete
  28. Olá Elizabeth Wiltzen, imagine dsfdf para grande, como sempre.
    De um admirador de Portugal.
    Parabéns.

    ReplyDelete