The first one was done at Robert Lange Studios. Charles Williams and myself were in the gallery on Saturday, July 17th painting for whomever was there. With many of the shows the artists will demo the weekend of the opening. If you are in the area head on over and learn, watch, or pillory the artists while they paint. Look for upcoming opportunities for these events. As a fellow painter or an admirer of the arts it is always very informative to see an artist at work.
I painted my 'vision' of Charles. However, he was in constant motion while he painted. With most artists they move while they work, so his pacing and my point of view was also varied. The light remained consistent which allowed me to piece together an image of him. With a figure in motion my aim was to take away the overall color that made up his flesh tones. His likeness was not important and I used him as a vehicle for my imagination. It was definitely challenging to work this way while a group of folks watched.
This one was painted as a demo for a class I was teaching at Artspace here in Raleigh. The intention was to remind the students of their approach to realizing an idea and how important it is to have those foundational building blocks in the beginning stages. This was done fairly quickly, maybe 30 minutes, in front of the model and another 10 from memory. I didn't add many stokes or details in this "touch up" phase, I simply pushed paint around and worked on the edges. Sometimes these quick demos come off other times they don't, ending up as more of training for the eye than a finished painting. I thought this one came together pretty well.
