A pause for -- applause?

 

 

Let's consider an upside-down calendar as a symbol for a necessary pause.  And if that sensible action doesn't provoke applause….how about a small plaudit? Does that sound like some kind of tiny creature burrowing out of the snow?  Well, it's something else, but maybe not yet deserved.

 

My decision to pause was at least sensible, if not actually praiseworthy.   My previous painting showed an attempt to combine my "East Side Storeys" series with development work on portraiture. But where would this take me?  A series of portraits, close up against windows, door frames, porch chairs?  I decided to pause for a couple of weeks and reconnect with portraiture without porches.  And for that, I looked to an enduring hero, Hashim Akib. 

 

 

A photo received in my in-box gave me just the subject matter:--  My high school friend B with a young neighbour of hers, whose affection and regard B has earned by coaching the younger woman in a specialty field in which B is a prize-winning expert. 

 

With Hashim's examples in mind, I made a start on a previously used textured paper.

 

 

The Akib method is certainly a challenge in carefully choosing colour tones, then putting them down brush stroke by brush stroke.   When I reached the point of no return, my friend B looked more like an elderly great-uncle than a kindly aunt.

 

 

 So what am I doing here??  And what will I do next?  Recently, my favourite local gallery had a marvellous show featuring this artist's sensitive portraits.  Luckily (or I'd quit now) this type of portraiture is not my goal.  Rather, I aim for the plausible, if inexact, like this previous self-portrait done in my first infatuation with Hashim Akib a few years ago.

 

 

And for a portrait that I just can't put away, here's the copy I attempted of Adirondack artist Harold Weston back at Summer Camp 2023. 

 

 

So here's the Post-Pause Plan:  I'll produce a few more paintings for the East Side Storeys series, I'll incorporate some figures for scale and interest, and I'll try to avoid faces that are either postage stamp size or up-close-and-personal.

 

Meanwhile, I'll continue to salute the artists I've referenced here – and this local artist who has an enthusiastic "patron" in our long-time East Side real estate agent who provides these tasty calendars every year.