This is a multimedia work i did quite some time ago and lost the original hard copy. I printed out a copy of what I could find of it, and made some some corrections to it by comparing it to the reference photo. Then I scanned it back into the computer and have spent quite a bit of time making little changes to it. The idea is to make a semi-abstract view that is partly between realism and a sort of faux stone look. I know that green is generally considered to be about the most unattractive color for a skin tone but in stones it is one of the most precious colors. The Chinese word for Jade literally means "the stone possessed by Kings". So, does this look O.K so far, or should I go ahead and use natural skin colors in the face?
It depends upon what your aim is for this painting. If you want a realistic portrait, then you'd want to apply flesh tones, and if you want a more illustrative look, then you have that now.
If you wish to drown, do not torture yourself with shallow water. (Bulgarian Proverb)
http://www.danadabagia.com
Dana,
Thanks for the reply. I can't say that I am really sure about what goal I am aiming for. I guess that is part of the problem. I was thinking about it today and I am thinking about doing several variations, and perhaps in one of those i could put flesh tones in the face and hands. Maybe even I could try marketing it as a series. I have a few issues with attempting realism. I was in a yahoo group of pencil artists one time and when they posted a drawing I couldn't tell the difference between some of them and the black and white picture they were working from. However photorealism in any media takes many, many hours or painstaking work. One lady who did this type of work made the statement that she felt like nothing more than a human copying machine. I can relate to that. Also if you are striving for realism then all along the way every viewer scrutinizes it practicully with a microscope and not only nit picks every little thing wrong, but even obsesses over something which is not wrong. One of my favorite artists is Howard David Johnson who works in colored pencil, and he can exactly equal a photograph to the naked eye. However he gets a lot of critisism. I've heard that any gradulate of an art school can achieve realism, but once they reach that point most of them back off and never do realism. I've had a few discussions with artists who do abstract and similar work and they really look down on artists who do straight represential work. So I guess what I am trying to say in a long winded way is that I don't want to aim for either option you mentioned. I am not aiming for a realistic portrait, or for an illustrative look either. I want to achieve a more "artistic" interpretation by blending different things together. In Chinese culture there is what as known as the "three perfections": these are Painting, Calligraphy, and poetry. That is not something I can exactly do, but it represents the approach I want of aiming for an artistic synergy. Does that make sense to anyone but me?
I'm not sure if I wouls call this by any term I can think of. It is sort of something in between realim and abstract. I think of the particular approach as more like two diminsional sculpture. I have one later version where I am adjusting the shape of the face on your right, and have redone the eyelashes and sculpted out the nose a bit more, but I won't bore folks by posting that one too. I'm moving on to some other projects, including a couple with natural skin tones.
given your response, and thank you for that, this is something I might see on a billboard that advertises something.
Again, it's your artistic vision that is most important. If you're happy with something you've designed and painted, then your goal has been achieved.
There are many adaptations of what we call 'art'. If this is yours, then so be it. Taking a photo and exacting it in its proportions in any medium can also be art but just not something many try to achieve.
I remember when I was in school many years ago a teacher told me that I was born in the wrong century. She wasn't talking about art, but the statement would apply to that too, since our culture, and intellectual approach to the world we are in is partly dependant on where we are in the stream of time. One of the most artistic things that I have ever seen is a photograph of a sculpture of a Japanese woman in a Kimono kneeling and serving tea. It was done in pink quartz by an artist who lived in the fourteenth century. That is the epitome of what art is to me, but of course to the mainstream art world my view would be considered simplistic. I can't imagine what one might be selling if they put a picture of that sculpture on a billboard.
I guess some people would call it art simply because of the technical difficulty of depicting realism in that medium, but to me that is besides the point. It is something beautiful to look at, but that isn't really the point either. What that type of artist does is to capture something intangible and communicate that idea, feeling, philosophy, and that moment, to someone else who simply looks at what they have done. Let me illustrate what I am trying to say with another art form, and a bit of history:
A parable of tea master Sen-no-Rikyu (16th century):
Sen-no-Rikyu built a garden enclosed by a tall hedge that blocked the view of the sea. The client was unhappy - until he bent to wash his hands in the water basin. The sea then became visible in a gap between the hedges and the client smiled. As the tea master had hoped, the client realized the intent behind the design. His mind made the connection between the water in the basin and the great ocean and thus between himself and infinite universe.
I'm a Christian, but I can still appreciate the symbolism. The reason why I use "bamboo" in my artist signature is because of the symbolism. One description of it is this: " A humble but upright man who bends with adversity but maintains his integrity". This reminds me a little of one of Emily Dickinson's poems where she personified the stalks of corn in a corn field, and the symbolism used by Sen-no-Rikyu is not that far different from the poet Robert Frost.
Perhaps I am thinking in the past. Have you heard of Leon Battista Alberti, the Philosopher, architect, musician, painter and sculptor? He wrote "Descriptio Urbis Romae", the first systematic study on the reconstruction of the Roman city. Inspired by the art of antiquity, he elaborated the theory of beauty being harmony, that it can be expressed mathematically in every way and that the "proportions" of the Roman buildings contain the basis of architectural design.
Then he wrote on painting. Inspired by the order and beauty inherent in nature, his groundbreaking work sets out the principles of distance, dimension and proportion; instructs the painter on how to use the rules of composition, representation, light and color to create work that is graceful and pleasing to the eye; and stipulates the moral and artistic pre-requisites of the successful painter.
Alberti regarded mathematics as the common ground of art and the sciences. "To make clear my exposition in writing this brief commentary on painting," Alberti began his treatise Della pittura, "I will take first from the mathematicians those things which my subject is concerned." In both Della pittura and De statua, a short treatise on sculpture, Alberti stressed that "all steps of learning should be sought from nature". The ultimate aim of an artist is to imitate nature. Painters and sculptors strive "through by different skills, at the same goal, namely that as nearly as possible the work they have undertaken shall appear to the observer to be similar to the real objects of nature".
That is how I think too.
The native Americans believed that not only every living thing, but also objects have a spirit. There is a waterfall named Manitou falls: it is French, from the Ojibwa word "manitoo." In Algonquian religious belief, a supernatural power that permeates the world, possessed in varying degrees by both spiritual and human beings. This is a little but similar to the belief of some people that God is "omnipresent".
I don't believe exactly the same, but to me part of what an artist does is to capture the spirit of a place or thing, through the symbol of it, and communicate that spirit to another person.
One thing that was interesting to me in reading about art history is how many artists used the camera obscura to try and capture and portray realism, but most of them hid this fact from the art world in general because if it came out they would lose their reputation. I use whatever tools I can.
You have captured such a nice look of sweetness and a kind of shyness her expression - this piece tickles me.
Thank you Valerie. That is kind of you to say. That is the reason why I choose this subject. It is really hard to find a photo of someone to render a portrat from where they are not looking at the camera. I used to be really into photography back in the 70's when I was a teen ager and it seems that back then it was considered more artistic for the photographer to be invisable. If you could capture the personality of your subject with just the right lighting, and the sharpness of details contrasting with areas where there are none, and where the subject seemed to be unaware of your camera then it was prettty cool, but it seems that fashion photography and the zoom lens changed everything. I am digressing, I do that a lot. i really agree with you though. I never met this lady but I can imagine that she id sweet and kind and doesn't think too much of herself. That is what I imagine her spirit is like.
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