the twilight of longing#501verse:24
I'm dressed as the sculpture of Venus de Milo,
the tears of a mime on my cheek,
born in an age of belief and denial,
my fingertips bleed when I speak.
Photo from the internet for my next painting of me as the Venus de Milo. I bought black leotards at the thrift shop in Paris to make sleeves for my arms. I am going to have my hands floating in space, as if they found the hands, but not the arms for the sculpture. I might change the position of my left arm.
I had a thought. I thought about making the front half of the torso in paper mache so I could wear it for the photograph. I'm not going to do it, but it was an interesting idea.
In the meantime, I'm working on layer 20 of a painting of a peach that just won't end. I've also done a painting of 4 peaches from a photo I took, and it turned out fine. I don't know why it's easy sometimes, and hard other times. I think I'm still working on it because I can't start the other painting anyway, otherwise it would still be sitting there tempting me to paint over it and start from scratch.
O.k. this is what I did. It's hard to photograph yourself. I had to flip it to get it the right way round. I wasn't happy so I took some more photos.
I liked this better. Soft focus on the camera setting to smooth out the wrinkles. I shot it in the shower with the softer light.
Left hand, cropped. High key setting on the camera. Images shot in the mirror.
Right hand. Taken in the mirror.
This is the canvas. I tinted the gesso a kind of light ochre colour. I printed the text in reverse on plain paper and laid it face down onto another fresh layer of the gesso. I rubbed it for a few seconds, then removed it. It did a reasonably good job of transferring the text. I'm going to paint it in by hand later. The "s" at the bottom right was a test. This might work better with a photo paper, instead of a plain white paper. Some of the paper adhered to the canvas, which I didn't want.
This is the first layer of paint on the left hand, holding the apple.
Right hand, layer one. I'll have to reshoot this one.
The text at the bottom of the painting. Layer one.
The whole painting, such as it is at the moment. The hands are floating in space, as if they found them, but not the arms.
I really didn't need the black sleeves, but I liked the idea.
First layer of paint on the background, and the torso and face. Lots of layers left to do. I like the little bits of yellow and pink.
A bit more work done on the first layer of paint.
Close-up of the upper half of the painting.
Close-up of the left hand. Needs at least 2 more layers of paint.
A bit more work done on the torso and background. I might change my mind about the background and paint over it. I'll do a bit more and think about it.
A couple of images I found on the internet.
And now for something completely different. Not quite what I want. Too much yellow on the right hand side, but I like it around her face.
Reduced the yellow on the right and did layer 2 of the brown background. Getting closer to what I want.
Did another layer of brown on the background, with a darker brown halo around the shapes on the right hand side. Close, but not quite it.
A bit less yellow. Still needs more paint on the background, and the face needs more work.
Changed the face, changed the right hand. Still not finished.
I went on a studio tour here in Paris, and really enjoyed myself. I wish I'd done it last year.
I met some great artists in my neighbourhood, and I'm thinking about joining for next year.
I enjoyed seeing their studios. It gives me ideas for mine.
Added a layer of red to the background. Needs another one. Still not finished the torso.
Red paint over the brown paint for the background, then red abstracted floral shapes over that.
Still not finished the torso.
Blue background, red abstracted floral shapes. Yes-sir-ee.
Changed the face to look more like me. It's getting closer to what I want. I think it needs a bit more work.
Close up of the face. Needs to be softened a bit I think.
Photo for face for painting. I know, I could have brushed my hair...
Finished at last. Well, it needs the rest of the text, but I still haven't found a way to do that that I like. Lettraset works o.k. but it's a bit tricky to apply to a rough surface.