So started this portrait shortly after the birth of my grandson ... Initially i had it a lot further, but the technique I'm using is pastels layers with a varnish over lay on each layer... and... I accidental picked up the wrong varnish one day and it reacted badly... and pretty much melted off the entire face... an accident that to my chagrin my kids wont let me forget ;-) ...
This portrait has been my arch Nemesis for a number of years now...
the family joke is that it might be finished in time for the grandsons 18th birthday
I'm frequently asked... "why haven't you finished that portrait yet?" "when are you going to finish that portrait?" "where the hell is my portrait and why haven't you finished it?"
I can understand the frustration of waiting... and there are many reasons why i keep hiding it ...
I can understand the frustration of waiting... and there are many reasons why i keep hiding it ...
The one i will go into on here is ... I'm not fucking good enough... this is my grandson and my son, its important to me ... so it has to be perfect. How well i achieve it has to reflect how important they are to me...It has to be the best damned portrait iv ever done. Perhaps not necessarily my magnum opus, but definitely something that i (and my family) can look at years from now with pride. Instead of looking at it and cringing at mistakes. In other words it needs to be as close to perfection as possible ... and as i cant yet paint portraits to the standard i want it to be able too i keep running into problems.
(what i can do)
(what i want to be able to do, and will never in a million years achieve)
So for now its back on the projects list... i noticed that by posting the updates of my projects you guys are really helping me achieve more and get further, faster than i usually do so the hope is that you can nag me bitch at me encourage me and point out ways i can improve it or areas that are glaringly wrong on it and between us we can can get this one finished
this btw is what all that practice on "fry" was all about