Wednesday, April 16, 2014

"The Agony And The Ecstasy & Forsythia!"

"Portrait #3 Acrylic 16" x 20" canvas"

This week's portrait class had much joy and some frustration!  Agony and ecstasy!
As soon as the teacher left I wiped off my complete first attempt! I felt it was going nowhere! Sometimes just have to start anew! I had to do a quick sketch to have something on the canvas for the teacher to see!  I felt ever so mischievous!  
Check out the upside down photo and you can barely see my initial approach almost gone!
Much more work to do on this one.  Model is returning next week!  Yippee!
(Next Monday, Patriots' Day in Boston!  A year since the tragedy! We will certainly be sad but we certainly will carry on!)



My little set up!

Look carefully and see my mostly rubbed out first attempt! (Right side up!  Second attempt is upside down!)  I kind of like the first one still sneaking through!  I think I will leave it as I progress with my second try!


"Spring?"
So happy to finally see the forsythia in bloom!

I woke early today and saw some wonderful snow!  Had to take photo just at sunrise because temperature was on the rise and snow was already starting to melt!

19 comments:

  1. Bonjour cher ami,
    Je suis admirative ! Je n'aurais peut-être pas osé tout effacer ! et pourtant vous êtes dans le juste. Lorsqu'on ne se sent pas satisfait, il vaut mieux tout reprendre à zéro.
    Votre toile est bien nourrie et toutes les nuances de couleurs qu'elle laisse apparaître sont splendides.
    Je vous fais de gros bisous et vous souhaite de joyeuses fêtes pascales à vous et votre famille.
    Une pensée particulière pour les victimes de Boston.

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    1. Bonjour Martine!
      Merci beaucoup for your very kind comments! I am sorry I am late in responding!
      I am so happy you like my art! I very much appreciate you taking the time to write to me! Thank you for your support in my endeavor to make art! It can be frustrating at time! Support can be very important! Thank you! Also thank you for thinking of the Boston Marathon bombing victims! You are a very kind person! It means so much! Merci beaucoup mon ami!
      Take care!
      Your USA art buddy!
      Michael

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  2. I love your little set up, your initial drawing and your second start with the first showing through. Process is always interesting. You likeness is good too. You make me excited about Saturday, when I WILL get to that figurative drawing open studio no matter what. You have punched me out the door.

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    1. Hello Linda!
      I am very sorry I am late in replying to your wonderful comment! I am not sure how it happens but time goes by and I don't often do the things I should do! I am very appreciative of our art blog friendship! Thank you for your wonderful support! I am thrilled that I may have motivated you to go to the figurative drawing studio.. I will be following up your decision on your blog! Good luck my art buddy!
      Again, thank you Linda! I am do fortunate to have you and my other art bloggin buddies!
      Take care and keep on making art!
      Your happy to be your art buddy!
      Michael

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  3. good morning "art buddy" --you are right to wipe out something that you don't want to proceed with...I bet the teacher would agree. Your drawing and start are so good. I am excited to see where it goes next. Here is what I like about you. You HAVE to be sick of snow...yet you're not. You HAVE to still feel much pain over the bombing...but you frame it in a positive way. These things are a lot like wiping out a painting. It's hard...but sometimes you just "don't have any other choice"! You have a real can-do attitude....looking forward to the next installment.

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    1. Hello my dear art buddy Celeste!
      I am always so very happy to hear from you! I am sorry I am late in responding to your very much appreciated comment! (I am so behind. I have another post I need to get to my replies!)
      Thank you for your very kind an supportive words. Makes me so happy to hear from you. Keeps me going! Especially with this portrait class. I am not used to this "work" part of making art. The discipline is good for me though! I am learning quie a bit. I am lucky to have a very good teacher. Thank you for your wonderful comments about my work. It is a struggle. I am hoping to publish this finished product soon! I am glad you noticed my attempt at being positive. Life is so very short I think it is important to carry on and try to enjoy and even savor the good things about our time on this sometimes odd little planet! You are one of the good people and I am so grateful for our blog friendship! Thank you Celeste!
      You take good care and keep on making great art!
      Your so grateful art buddy!
      Michael who is learning why they call it a "work" of art!

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  4. Ah Michael! The drawing is reminiscent of Gauguin's portrait drawings. So you have been doing Van Gogh, Fauvism, and Gauguin as of late. Very great to clear the slate and start anew after the blue. ; ) ... or perhaps you would prefer "If at first you don't succeed wipe out again"

    It looks like you have having fun, learning much and pushing forward with your experimentation.
    Love the drawing...
    Keep painting...

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    1. Hello My Do Very Dear West Coast Art Buddy! Hi David!
      I am so sorry I am so very late in replying. I am not sure what is going on but I need to make time to get to these wonderful comments! I never want to take it for granted that you and our other art blogging friends make time to write comments. I should definitely do the same! I am thrilled you made references to some of my very favorite "art buddies!" Imagine me in the same sentence as them! Obrigado! Merci! Gracias! and more! I also enjoy your humor! So very good to have a laugh as we journey on this sometimes wonderful, joyful,and much more life adventure! You can be so funny David and I appreciate your humor! "Wipe out again!" is my new mantra!
      I am so very humbled that you like my work! Your support and others makes a huge difference in my attempts to make art! I often want my art to be great. Not in a conceited way but just because I want it to be! Odd huh?
      You keep painting to!
      Your rust loving urban industrial train loving art buddy!
      Michael

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  5. This is coming along beautifully, Michael!!! and I love the background as well!!
    I love how courageous you are adding color to his face! This is what art is about!!
    Happy Easter!!!!

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    1. Hello Hilda! aka "Queen Of Portraiture!" Getting a positive comment from you with your great talent makes my day! Thank you buddy! I am so sorry I didn't respond sooner to your wonderful and very supportive comments! I am so glad you like my art and even understand it! Sometimes I get so nervous about posting photos of my work! Thank goodness we art bloggers are always so very positive with our comments! I love when you wrote, "This is what art is about!" One of my favorite comments! Thank you Hilda!
      I did have a wonderful Easter! Thank you buddy!
      Your Hilda's art loving buddy!
      Michael

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  6. I love seeing your struggle/ thought process and it is funny to think of you worrying about what the teacher will think before she comes back! The portrait is coming along beautifully and shows you are gaining a lot of great skills and practice. Nothing better than working from a live model.I'm happy to see springs arrival in your area! Enjoy !

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    1. First, my dear Roman art buddy, How are you? I hope you are getting better and better each and every day!
      I am so sorry I haven't gotten back to you on your wonderful comment! Thank you so much for writing to me! I so appreciate our little art blog friendship! I feel so lucky to have discovered art blogging! I certainly must thank Lisa Dari Kennedy for urging me to create a blog! If you haven't already, I strongly suggest you and everyone to check out her blog! Lisa Daria Kennedy! One of the best!
      I am so glad you noticed the humor in my "tricking" the teacher! It seemed like such a devilish thing to do at the time! He is a great teacher! Very disciplined and knowledgeable! I am glad you like my attempt at portraiture. Lately there has been more agony than ecstasy! But I am going forward!
      Spring has sprung! But we in New England know at any time almost anything weather wise could change! For us spring seems like such a very short season!
      So get well fast and then continue making your great watercolors!
      Your Wishing You Well And Quick Recovery Art Buddy!
      Michael

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  7. I applaud you, Michael! It takes courage to wipe out and begin again. Your sketch is a wonderful likeness and I think the portrait overlaying the wipe out gives a level of complexity and interest that your work always has! Happy painting, Michael, and happy learning and experimenting! The forsythia are lovely and a sure sign of spring!

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    1. Hello My Washington DC Loving Art Buddy Susan! So very, very good to hear from you! Thank you for supporting my wiping out and staring over! "A time to wipe out and a time not to wipe out!" I am glad I left a bit of the old attempt showing! Your portraits are so off the chart wonderful! Unique! Beautiful! And certainly well done! So I appreciate your comments so much! You are such a talented artist Susan! Thank you for visiting my blog and writing to me! The forsythia is certainly a sure sign of spring! They are everywhere in Massachusetts! I love them so much! I never ever trim mine! I like the wild and untamed! The yellows are outstanding! I hate to see them lose their flowers. I did a very small forsythia painting once. Maybe I will post a photo of it!
      Again, thanks so much Susan!
      I love your art!
      Your Courageous Wiping Out Art Buddy!
      Michael

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  8. Hi Michael, good on you for being brave enough to start from scratch. I can just imagine the mischievous look on your face while you were removing your original work! It is amazing how much agony there can be in the painting process when on the other hand it can deliver such highs. I love how this current portrait is coming along and look forward to seeing the finished article. How wonderful that you took on this portrait class - I think it is right up your alley!
    I'm not very familiar with forsythia but it looks very pretty - extra pretty knowing it is a sign that you are to finally get your springtime. Are any of your crocuses emerging yet? How amazing that you continue to get snowfalls!
    Your no-snow painting buddy!
    Wendy

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    1. Hello My Dear Australian Art Cobber!
      G'Day Mate!
      Hey Wendy! How is it that I can be so late in responding to your so very kind and supportive comments! I am sorry buddy! I am not sure what happens with my use of time when I let important things, like replying to my art blogging buddies, fall by the wayside! So here I am! Ready to write!
      So! I love reading" Good on you!" Thank you mate! As a matter of fact Lisa Daria and I were at our nephews birthday party just yesterday and we were talking to our family and friends all about you! How so very cool is that! You were a hit at our family party! All the way from Australia and part of our little New England gathering! Wicked Awesome! ( Oh, using wicked in front of any adjective / adverbs, what ever , is a very Boston thing! Never use wicked by itself! Wicked used this way means excellent,very, very good! It increases the power of the word behind it immensely! Wicked immensely in fact! ! Try it with your family and friends! Fun to have people in Australia using Boston slang! You are right about me having a mischievous look on my face. I am not sure why I thought I was doing such and outlandish deed! So much fun! I have a great teacher but still it felt like I was back in grade school and "getting away" with something! You are so right about making art. This portrait class is such a challenge for me. At times very frustrating. Just the other day I took a very long break during the class walked about the museum, had a cup of tea and then went back ready to go with a set of fresh eyes! Thank you so much Wendy for your support and your very kind words! Means the world to me! Forsythia are a way beyond beautiful flowering shrub / tree! One of the first to flower in the Northeast USA during the spring! I love them. We have more than ten of them planted around our house. Some are more than twelve feet high! I never trim them! I love their branches wild and out of control. Many in the area trim them and keep them ever so neat! I much rather have them in their more natural state. Wild and glorious! Most of mine are already losing their flowers!! Hate that! No luck this year with crocus bulbs! Not one flowered! Not sure why! I meant to go around town to photo some for you! Sorry to late now! Snow is finally gone. I am one of the few who miss it! I do like the changing of the seasons but I so love the snow! Always next year! So, again I am so sorry so late in replying! Now I have to go to another posts and catch up on more replies!!! Feel so lucky to have our art blog buddies!
      Take care Wendy!
      Your Loving The Fact That You Also Love Snow Wicked Good Art Buddy!
      Michael Cobber

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    2. Hi Michael, I too am finding that the days pass too quickly between answering comments. I felt VERY honoured to know that I was a topic of conversation at your family party - yes, it was very cool indeed!! I could never have foreseen that all these great on-line friendships would be forged!
      I was also amazed to hear that you are related to Lisa Daria - that is also very cool! Great personalities and artistic talent obviously run in your family! It was via Lisa's blog that I first discovered yours! Lisa gave me the impetus to get me started on my own blog!
      I look forward to seeing forsythia bushes in your neck of the woods one day!
      I hope you continue to enjoy your portrait class and that the beauties of spring make up for the ending of winter.
      Your snow-loving(from-a-safely-warm-distance)-art-cobber,
      Wendy

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  9. Absolutely! The first one sneaking through only makes the second more interesting and more layered (quite literally more layered)!
    More seriously, I do think it adds depth and intensity to that second work even after the first is very obscured.

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    1. Hello Shirley!
      Sorry so late with this reply! Need to get disciplined and respond sooner!
      Thank you so much for the "Absolutely!" It is so good to get some support and validation! Especially from you and my other very talented art blog buddies! I tend to just "do" things without much thought when I am in the "making art zone!" So it is so very nice when others see the good in that! Thanks Shirley! Your support is so appreciated! Your positive comments make my day! Especially during the sometimes very challenging and frustrating times! Like this class! I love it but I am not used to such work! Good for me though!
      You take care Shirley! I will be checking your wonderful art always!
      Your so happy to hear from you art buddy!
      Michael

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