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Monday, December 1, 2008

Painting From Sketches

City Neighborhood sketch
Many of the artists in my classes yearn to be freer in their representational painting. Tightness feels yucky in painting as well as in life.....to me. (qualifier) In my opinion, painting from photographs offers the least amount of freedom. Painting from life is better. And painting from sketches is better yet. It is indeed a bit intimidating, but offers more creative possibilities than the latter two. I have been haunted for many years by a winter of my own inner-city Akron, Ohio. It is a scene from my childhood of the neighborhoods that populate the center of every city across our country. I have schlepped all over the city on dusky winter nights looking for the "perfect neighborhood", the one that matched all of my aesthetic requirements. There were none. I have settled for a drawing that is a composite of all that I have seen. At first, it seemed a bit intimidating working on such a large painting from such a small sketch, but has provided more excitement for me as a painter than any other work in recent history. I can't wait for session 2!