No Two Sessions Are Alike

I have been very fortunate with the models who have worked for me. Bad ones I do not hire back, so maybe it's more of a case of finding a model who can put up with me. Jordan put up with a few hundred bug bites just so I could find the right background for a painting I had in mind. Most of the time, working outdoors, we do not have trouble with bugs. Snakes were a problem on a few occasions. Brianna, a model who loved the outdoors, gave the snakes a bit of a hassle. She loves holding them when all they wanted to do was to find a meal. Linda packed up her things at first sight of a garden snake. She also didn't care for ducks, of all things. She did not like their mating habits.

Most give posing outdoors a valiant effort. Some models just like being nude outdoors. I like to see what outdoor lighting does to skin. Blues will appear on some models. I love the dappled lighting and movement of it as the wind blows. Wind keeps the bugs away and cools the girls on warm days. 

Models critique poses and concepts I have in mind. One said she never read books laying on her back so I had her roll over on to her stomach, saving the laying on the back for another model. If they are not comfortable it will come through in the painting. 

Other benefits of models are learning things,  getting other viewpoints, from religion and politics to where to get the best pizza. I gravitate toward young models so I learn new ways of thinking and seeing. There is a constant exchange of ideas flowing around my studio. 

When models are brought into the creative process they come alive and become excited about  posing and the progress of the work.  Some photograph the progress of their painting, a couple invite boyfriends or husbands to see what I am doing. No two models are alike. No two sessions are alike. It's why I love working with living models. 

Little Hands and "Please & Thank-you's"

Just dropped Jordan and Josephine off at the Airport. Ten days of working with these two, photographing and sketching these for future works. Jordan is a great mother, instilling values and good manners into this little person discovering the world. Mary Kay, one of my students, stopped in to help out with Josephine, a very energetic two year old.

Most of what I observed cannot be portrayed with paints and canvas. The "pleases and thank you's " were everywhere. Little hands getting into everything. Questions and having things pointed out. Josephine is my first experience with a two year old. I would love to do some life paintings of her, but so far I have only been able to paint her sleeping or feeding herself. Last visit I got some quick studies of Jordan breastfeeding Josephine. I was very much surprised at how much I captured with those two studies. 

Seeing Jordan raising this little person I see how much a mother is responsible for. I kept thinking of my own mother raising the five of us in our family. Kim is another of my models who has raised a very well mannered young man. I think all my models have become great mothers. I wish I could have been more involved with their kids. Jordan has continued to share Josephine with me even when the two are back home in Seattle. 

Before Jordan and Josephine arrived the other day I set up a still-life on a coffee table to see how Josephine would react to this scene in my studio. Shot tons of pictures as she timidly began checking out the cantaloupe and the orange, which mom peeled for her. I had a jewelry box full of keys, earrings, marbles and all kinds of trinkets. She loved eating the orange segments while pulling things out of the jewelry box. I sketched out possible ideas from what I could envision. I prefer to try sketching from memory first before going to the photos.  Might take a month before I'm ready to try a painting of this scene...