There is simply no substitute...

Bundled (Mo)   Watercolor   14 x 10

for drawing from life.  It is in this life situation that we are able to understand the forms, the roundness, the hills and valleys of the human face.  And, when practicing, the best way is to use pencils or charcoal....values will teach these subtleties more easily without the added complications of color.  I have seen seasoned artists freeze up when faced with portrait-drawing.  It is here that small errors in scale and measurement show up.  And, when we freeze up, we tend to see the human face as we did when we were children....two eyes, a nose and a mouth....and perhaps a  couple of ears and some hair.  Getting the eyes "just right" will help, but is not the true foundation of drawing the human head.  In actuality, the simple planes of the head tell the true story.  It is indeed an overwhelming task.  It is easy to practice on yourself in the mirror....perhaps limiting yourself to just one quadrant of the face.  That success will urge you onward.  My friend Mo does a self-portrait each day, both to improve her skills and to understand herself maneuvering through life.  Her set-up is stationary in her bathroom.  Her drawings are done in an old copy of The Gulag Archipelago.....one page a day.  Whatever medium spins her fan at a given moment.  What a wonderful way to learn.  Let that be a lesson to us.

Homage...

Bundled   watercolor   14 x 10

is pronounced o-maj'  in French.  My friend Tom painted an homage to Dean Mitchell after viewing his exhibition in Canton.  My homage today is to my friend Mo.  She has studied with me for years.  She is an open-minded and fair individual.  She treats everyone with kindness.  She is enthusiastic.  We are both perpetual students.  And....she lives an artful and considerate life in every way.  Her portrait of me is just wonderful.  Simply rendered.  Texture has been liberally suggested.  Energetic.  And, as it seems to me, she only represented the good parts....of course, my hair and mouth were covered.  (definitely a good thing)

Mo was not at class last week.  Her wonderful dog Farina, who is also a member of our class, suffered an accident at a dog park and had to have surgery on Monday.  Farina's leg was dislocated as she leaped to get away from some other large dogs.  And the very sad thing is that not one individual stepped up to help her, or to acknowledge their part in the accident.  I would have to say that this is anti-Mo behavior.

Which is exactly why I like her so much.