The High School of Art and Design holds fundraising Drawathons to help the school.
I have no idea why LaGuardia does not do this, I did ask back in 2019 but got a non-answer.
I did exactly one painting, and it took around 5 hours because I am not as experienced in figure painting, and I am extremely out of practice. I LOVE figurative work but it is also more expensive to do because of the model fee. (And I do not need assvice suggestions to work from photos. Go eat canned vegetables instead of fresh ones, that's the difference. Figure drawing from photos is NOT a substitute to working from the live model, it's not even close. If it was, there would not be live figure drawing/painting sessions.)
I started at 11:30 and finished at 5:30, but there were many model breaks, probably about an hour's worth.
This September I'm going to start getting back to The League for figure practice. Or maybe Minerva's studio, who I have been hearing about for YEARS and haven't been able to go bc Life.
Its important to keep balance, because everything we do informs everything else. I really also should do more still life, but I can't keep myself at home.
This painting is 9x12 oil on arches oil paper, which is brilliant stuff.
I used my plein air setup which everyone admired and loves, because it is truly awesome.
(I also used leftover plein air paint from last night's painting.)
My goals were to 1) get the whole figure on the page, 2) S L O W D O W N, 3) don't get too detailed too quickly. I did accomplish all those things.
Does she have issues? Yes.
Does it matter? No.
Which brings me to my rant.
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Some lady who I don't know except I guess we are Facebook friends decided it was very important to tell me she thinks the head is a little too large.
1. This is extremely poor etiquette. Actually it is downright rude.
Why? You don't ever give critique unless someone asks for it.
I am fortunate enough to be around some REALLY proficient people in very serious art settings. Wizards. If you haven't been around it, you honestly have no idea.
No one - ever- would just come up to someone's work and point out flaws. We just don't do that. In fact, yesterday I was commiserating with some other artists who are extremely experienced and proficient- and basically we all complained it's not fair that everyone still has drawing issues and it sucks and no one ever escapes it, not ever. And Corot was complaining he never got a certain color right on his deathbed.
THAT is how highly trained and skilled artists speak with each other. We do not ever go point out others' problems etc, because we know 1) it's a study and doesn't matter 2) we're all in the same freaking boat, and 3) we already know and don't need someone to tell us about it. Unless we ask.
There is a shared understanding that goes beyond words. I have consistently experienced this only with proficient and experienced artists- particularly ones who can work from life.
2. The only people who do this are what I think of as semi-artists- people who are usually older and have just enough training to make them think they know a lot more than they actually do. Often they are people who only render copies of photographs and do not work from life or even know how to. The people who have just enough training and think they know a lot are absolutely THE WORST.
The reason they feel the need to pick at others is to show that they know some stuff. It's their ego, nothing else.
My friend Leah and I had a chat about this once, she said they are also the absolute WORST to teach.
It's true.
This lady who had to pick at me definitely falls into that category. Sorry, I'm not impressed by your generic renderings of photos you didn't even take yourself done with a mechanical pencil. I will never tell you that, I will be nice and encouraging because I know you truly don't know how a real environment is, and also I think it's great that anyone is making art at all, but if you're going to pick at me my judgmental hat comes on. (And also you do like 2 paintings a year.)
3. It's not about perfection. We're all trying to get it right all the time, but we make way more errors and mistakes than successes. Any proficient artist knows this, that's why quantity is such an important thing.
I am very aware of my issues and shortcomings and every time I'm out painting I'm thinking about it, trying to resolve it a little closer each time. When you have the advantage of quantity you aren't so precious about every single little thing. It takes SO MUCH PRACTICE.
There are SO MANY PROBLEMS to deal with in any given painting and often I'll go out with only ONE (maybe 2) of them in mind to work on. Painting and drawing problems are like expenses- you get one solved and 10 more pop up. It is never-ending. And the more you do, the more experienced you get, the harder it is.
It truly is-as I think it was Van Gogh who said- the more I paint the harder it gets. Or, painting is easy when you don't know how. And it's a thousand percent true. When you don't know what you are doing, it's easy. And the more you learn the more difficult it gets.
These semi-artists never get to that point.
The have a very basic mentality.
Ok my rant is over.
