The sound of the blues and soft scratches are all that can be heard. In a circle, seventeen artists use their media, pencils, pastels, and paint, to make their own versions of the same subject. Atop a small bench in the center sits the subject, a dance instructor in workout clothes, looking upward.
There are some artists who emphasize her upswept hair and prominent features. Her body and limbs take the attention of another group, that renders them in strong strokes or soft shading. The model's different poses can be superimposed across the canvas to achieve movement, which one painter from Crystal Lake does with watercolor outlines. Primarily a landscape artist, she uses their group's weekly meeting to refine her figure drawing skills and to experiment with new techniques.
According to the artist, art takes practice, contrary to popular belief. She stands back to assess today's art and finds she likes it. Greatness in art comes in waves, and a portrait that speaks to the viewer through the captured moment of the subject can be a product of either long study or random success in a practice session.
For another female artist, who two years ago resumed her art career after two decades in the business world, portraits are a preferred art form. There has always been a special spot in her heart for portraits. For her, these paintings are about understanding and then translating an expression onto canvas. She is bold but effective in her color choices, dark green, blue, yellow and white, to convey the model's grace.
The artist sees layers beyond face colors. For the painting to come to life, light and corresponding tones, whether cool blues and greens or warm yellows and whites, must also be painted. Renoir was the grand example of this technique, which she is trying hard to master. Artists working on commission request either a live sitting or a photograph. Personality is best painted when experienced, but the photograph serves for convenience. The challenge is expressing personality on canvas. Sometimes, there's just a split second where you see their personality. She says her objective is rarely to recreate an exact likeness, though her works still fulfill this criterion. Her goal as an artist is to recreate one's inner beauty, which always leads to a fabulous painting.
When working on commission, artists must reconcile personal concepts and perceptions with the patron's requests. Contrary to what laymen might think, vibrant colors are actually flattering to the subject.
With some artists, they focus on her upswept hair and charming features. The others' attention is drawn to her body and limbs, which they render in long strokes or soft shading. Using watercolor, a painter from Crystal Lake creates movement across the panel by superimposing different poses. Her work involves mostly landscapes, and she used the group's weekly sessions to keep up with less practiced skills, like figure drawing.
She says, unlike with musicians and their instruments, most people don't associate practice with drawing. Looking over her painting, she feels she has done a good job. The inspiration that sets apart a work of art can come at any moment, whether during study or practice, and a portrait is judged by its connection to the viewer through its rendition of the human figure and emotion.
The business world claimed one of their colleagues for twenty years, and two years she returned with a greater passion for portraits than ever. She holds portraits above other painting modes. When she does a portrait, she paints what she has understood to be the subject's feelings. Her impression of the model is that of royalty, and she uses unlikely color combinations of dark green, blue, yellow and white to convey this.
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