After being an art major and testing my hand in every medium and various subject matters, I can't abandon my love of drawing and painting people.
For me, it is both the most difficult and most rewarding of challenges: to make a two-dimensional surface reflect the most recognizable three-dimensional object. It is such an act of worship for me- to try to duplicate only what someone looks like, at the same time thinking that my God- the Creator of the universe- knew exactly what this person would look like before He spoke them into being, He knew the sound of their voice, and everything they would accomplish in their life. As difficult as it is to put every feature exactly in the place it belongs in the perfect color, perfect shape, perfect shade... God has made each of these features function. It was the only thing God made that he said was "very good." And there is nothing more than drawing a face that makes me realize how small I am and how big God is. He invites me to be creative by being inspired by the creation that He loves most.
A portrait is my favorite gift to give. What is better than freeze-faming moments of people they love most? What is even better is being able to change them into something more beautiful and memorable that photographs.
Photographs can be manipulated a great deal nowadays. They can be cropped and color-boosted, sepia toned and air-brushed, blemishes removed or made black and white. But there is something about including an artist's hand in the interpretation of a love of a face.
By examining the portrait in art history, you can tell that DaVinci was intrigued by his subject manner of the Mona Lisa.
You can tell Peter Paul Reubens loved his daughter Clara- especially her eyes, maybe because she had eyes just like her mother.
You can see how Touloues Lautrec wasn't as captivated with how his subject matter looked as with how she moved.
No two artists in history would depict the same subject in the same exact way. You can tell not only who the subject was (emotions, features, socio-economic status, etc.) you can see how the artist felt about that subject.
This is starting to sound more like an essay rather than an introduction to a blog, so I'll get back to the point...
College was really my first encounter with art. I graduated from Houghton College in 2004 feeling so grateful for all that I was exposed to- art history, drawing, painting, photography, ceramics, traveling abroad to Italy and Germany, being surrounded by wonderfully creative people. But I left not really having my own point of view of the world. I wondered what I could possibly add the the "art world." I didn't have a particular message that I wanted to get across to my viewers. Its like having a pen with no words to write. What was the point?
So until I found my way, I decided to make myself into an apprentice. Not of any one particular contemporary artist. I decided to open up my art history book and find the voices of others to duplicate. I would add to my proverbial art tool belt and gather all of the techniques I would need until I finally had something to say for myself.
I decided that I wanted to open up my own art business called "Time Savor Portraits" specializing in techniques used by old master painters and drawers. This blog is my journey and a way to talk about the commissions I do and lessons I learn through the portraits I create. Some I talk about will be older projects that I will revisit and some will be sketches I do to keep my tools sharpened.
I find that nothing is as motivating as accountability, so your comments and critiques are most welcome, as well as ideas and commissions for artwork that you would like to see.
