Going For It

Stella in the sun
Stella in the sun

There was a new Crimestoppers page in the paper yesterday morning. I have it next to my scanner and I plan on scanning it so I can enlarge the pictures. I am getting much more comfortable with backing up and getting some distance between my eyes and my paintings. I need larger source material because I’m finding that I would like to see it and the piece I’m working on at the same time and both from a distance. I use to hold the small pictures in my hand and then turn to the canvas to paint. I resisted backing up because I was afraid of what I might see. I could only take so much.

Lately I’ve been drawing and painting with chalk (or a brush) taped to the end of a yardstick so I can maintain some distance and this is really helping. I am much less likely to get a great looking eye in the way wrong location. I wish I could get a hold of some bigger versions of these mug shots. They are only an inch and a half high in the newspaper and that’s with a 65 line screen and sloppy 4-color registration. They don’t get any better when I blow them up. Maybe I can talk the Sherriff’s Department into letting 4D do the Crimestoppers website so I can access to the original files.

We stopped in to see AMP at the Little last night and Sue Rogers came over to out table to tell me that there was a really interesting face on the Crimestopper page in the morning paper. She encouraged me to “go for it” in capturing the defiant expression on this one dude’s face. I’m not sure which one caught her eye but I really appreciate her enthusiasm.

We are taking care of two cats on our street while their owners are away. We visited both this afternoon There’s Dietrick at one end of the street and Puddles at the other. Maybe tomorrow I will photograph both for the Refrigerator.

1 Comment

One Reply to “Going For It”

  1. Singer Sargent, I read somewhere, would place his canvas right next to his sitter, and then stand back to look, zoom in to paint. This seems counter intuitive, insofar as the viewer of the painting’s experience goes, like he should have made those brilliant reductions from afar, BUT NOT SO!

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