and sometimes it doesn't. The past couple of days it hasn't. Whereas the first two faces went pretty quickly and were really fun to do, several recent efforts are littering the studio floor. I barely eked out two acceptable ones and this after many frustrated hours.
I've fallen into a trap I knew I might fall into---the compulsion to make a likeness, to make it perfect. I don't want to do that--it defeats the purpose of the 101 Faces project. But I knew I would fall into it from time to time. I'll just have to accept it when it happens and try to work through it. Besides, some days you're off, no matter what you're trying to do. It passes. And I DID manage to get a decent likeness in the top drawing, something I didn't especially try for n the black and white drawing.
Well,you may feel "it doesn't" here, but I love all of these. Your work is beautiful--it's reassuring to know that even someone with your talent doubts your own work sometimes. I love your style.
Posted by: sue | January 18, 2007 at 02:18 PM
That top portrait is really beautiful. I love the way the lines fade as they go down her face. That nose is breath-taking!
Posted by: niff | January 18, 2007 at 11:30 AM
just found your blog and your wonderful drawings! i have been drawing and painting faces for fun for many years. i have even made several hand made, stitched books filled with watercolor faces...i have been wanting to get back to painting them again and your blog entries remind me how much fun it is...great work. love your animal sketches, too.
Posted by: Mary | January 18, 2007 at 06:51 AM
Some days it works, some days it doesn't. I've always found looking at the art done by other people always helps me when in a funk - it might work for you.
Anyway tonight my "Drawing Heads" class starts upa gain and so I just need to decide before I get there whether I'm being Holbein or David Hockney!
Posted by: Katherine | January 18, 2007 at 04:59 AM
Your frustrations sound a little bit like some of my recently deleted paragraphs - the equivalent of wadded-up pieces of paper. Some days everything comes together; other days more effort is required. I think you've done a great job with these but I know you are your own worst critic and expect perfection! :)
Posted by: Paris Parfait | January 17, 2007 at 12:31 PM
Hi, my wonderful commmenters---and thank you for your words of encouragement. It's so interesting to read what people respond to. I'm hoping that I'll loosen up more as the 101 Faces project progresses. If I were already at the point I want to reach, there'd be little point in continuing, right? And you know me---I'm all (well, mostly) about the process, trying to figure out the way, whatever the twists and turns. And,Anthony--- I find that the tight framing dicated by the small size of these pieces adds interest and a bit of an edge to the process of making them.
Posted by: Laura | January 17, 2007 at 10:50 AM