Available Paintings

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Sarah






Hello, I have been working on this the last few days. This is my niece Sarah, she is a beautiful young woman. I worked hard to get a good likeness and I think it is pretty close. She was leaning forward in the photo so her shoulders were up pretty high, I changed that and moved them down and suggested a top. This is oil on a 11 X 14 canvas panel.

Another subject, I would like your thoughts on this. If an artist does not have a fine arts degree do you consider them self taught? If they have had lessons and workshops do you still consider them to be self taught? I know a lot of artists say they are self taught but rarely do you meet anyone who hasn't taken lessons and or workshops, so are they really self taught? Thanks so much SOLD

5 comments:

http://www.onpainting.wordpress.com said...

Barbara - I like this unfinished warm skin tones better in this series. They seem much richer in color. Are you going over the work with paint with a lot of white in it? Also I think th highlight of white on the nose is too light.

In general,m if you are self taught you are learing from someone who does not know. Doesn't seem like such a bright idea.

Barbara Pask said...

Hi Bill, I did go back and knock that highlight down on the nose, things always stand out more in the photos. I did have the skin tones more like hers in the first photo but put in a lot more reds trying to make it more exciting. I know white will gray things so I try to be careful with it. Whew, painting is soooo hard. I agree about teaching yourself, a fool for a teacher, right? Just wondering if you would call a person without a degree self taught even with a lot of direction from others?

Art with Liz said...

You are so very good with portraits of children and she really is beautiful Barbara. As for the self taught - great question. I have no fine arts degrees but over these last two years have been to many workshops and teachers, so consider myself to having been taught, but not degreed.

Barbara Pask said...

Hi Liz, thank you again for your sweet words. I like you have had lessons and workshops but no art degree. Just wondering what most people really mean when they call themselves self taught, hmmm.

Susan Carlin said...

Looking great, Barb. People ask me all the time about the schooling/self-taught thing, as though those are the only choices. I tell people that I learned by drawing and painting a LOT. That one gets better at anything one does often. I looked at others' work and learned. I read books and learned. Now, after years of doing portrait commissions, I take two or three day workshops with artists I admire and might learn something from. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't, but I push myself to learn more. If that's self-taught, then I'm self-taught. Just as there are poor artists who are self-taught, there are at least as many who went to art school.