When Your Friend Models for a Painting...

in funny •  7 years ago  (edited)

I found these process photos buried in an old folder on my laptop that I thought you Steemians would enjoy! Well, I did anyway. Took me back to one of my favorite paintings. I was working on my "False Perceptions" series that was my senior thesis for my BFA at Missouri State University in 2013 (you can find the post I wrote about the whole series on Steemit last summer here). I was exploring how we make quick judgments of other people from the surface. I picked some of my boldest friends to model for me for this series. This is my buddy, Adam :)

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Harvard Graduate | 36"x48" | oil on canvas


For these paintings, I was still on my paint-directly-from-reference part of my artistic journey that I've been talking about in my recent posts. That means in order for my ideas to come to life I had to stage them and photograph them first. This is one scenario that I will remember forever. I requested Adam wear the snorkel and flippers while holding my other friend's dog in a shark costume, and he chose his clothes. We went to a gas station nearby and I went in to tell the clerk what we were doing so no suspicion arose. Then the photoshoot began! I had a couple people also take pictures while we were there and the employees where chuckling watching from the window. It was a moment that made shy-self come out of my shell a bit and also realize how art and vibrance can brighten a day.

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And then to take the image back to the studio. I was under the instruction and guidance of Duat Vu who taught me this method of laying down lines to find proportions and strengthen composition. At the time, I literally drew them down to help with the process (my brain just does it automatically now).

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Then the underpainting...

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Color! Yes, please! I loved working in that studio space so much! I only wish they would have let us stay later at night! :)

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Duat suggested changing up some colors, so I went with the yellow jacket, pink gas station pump, purple car, and yellow jacket. They needed to be vibrant to help support the theme, and I was just dipping my toes into color theory.

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FINAL

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It really is so different seeing paintings that have been in the studio so long on the gallery wall. Still a feeling of accomplishment that compares to no other. On display at Brick City Gallery for my BFA exhibition.

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He now resides in one of my favorite local taphouses. Adam told me he had brought a couple dates there since haha!

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Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for looking!

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www.christiesnelson.com

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Glad you unburied them thumbsup.gif

Thank you!! Love your work, very talented! Nice to meet you, Patricia ;)