I’m fed up with trying to paint like others want me to. I’m tired of the central Indiana art scene. The only way to make it with them is to paint barns. You have to use the same exact techniques. You can’t tell the difference between one artist and the other. Their paintings fill the local galleries and gather dust. From now on, I’m going to paint what I feel like and how I feel like. I don’t care if I ever get into another show or sell another painting.
This painting was done with pure emotion. I just let the juices flow. Look at it — she’s got feeling and presence. Look at her eyes — you know she’s thinking. She’s surrounded by her work.
I entered this in the state fair. A local type judge didn’t give it the time of day. I thought that it was a failure. Then someone told me congratulations. I had won the Governor’s Choice Award. They had come in after the original judge. I got a huge ribbon. The painting hung in the governor’s mansion. At a reception there, the First Lady, Judy O’Bannon, told me how much she loved it.
So there.
Since I’m starting my new portrait class this week, I thought I’d post a drawing of a person. There are some tricks – the eyes are in the middle of the head. Go ahead, measure and see. I like to put them in, then draw triangles underneath which create the smile lines. Actually the smile lines are from the cheekbones. Under the bottom lip there is an area before the chin line. I like to call it the bow tie. The area above the eyebrow protrudes some because the bone above the eye socket sticks out.
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