Here We Go!

I'm totally jazzed right now.

I've been more or less biding my time, what with one thing or another, but always so very conscious of time slipping by without painting.

There'd been a man who'd volunteered to model a couple weeks ago? and I'd left it up to him to call when he was ready. But I hadn't heard from him, so this morning, after tying up some loose ends with a website job, I decided to give him a call. And I'm sure glad I did. Even before I could say much over the phone, he asked if we could do it right away. I said, "Sure!" and before you knew it, he was knocking on the door. Cool.

He was great. Once I had the camera set-up and explained a bit about the composition, (see sketch, next entry), his nervousness passed - he'd never modeled before - and once that happened, he became attentive to whatever directions were needed. And he was great at following directions too, so all-in-all, it was a short, very productive session. He even suggested an improvement to the composition!!!!

In my explanations of the shoot, I'd told him it was of a guy who had a decision to make, but that he wasn't depressed… "Just thinking real hard," I'd said, "so let's keep your shoulders back a bit… not drooping." No problem, but in positioning him, I had him so you could only see the top of his head. A few photos into the shoot, he remarked, "Won't that make him look depressed? his head hanging down so low?"

Sure enough, in reviewing the photos just taken, he was right. So after that, his head is raised a bit and he's staring at the floor in front of him.

I just uploaded the photos to the computer and reviewed 'em. The photos turned out great. Not photographic art, you understand, but that's not why they're taken… The positions I ask for can't be held for very long, and they're definitely not positions that can be held for as long as it'd take to do a painting. In fact, the positions can be downright uncomfortable even for the shortest period of time. So the only recourse is to take reference photos.

I'm totally jazzed. And I'm totally excited about this painting.

Thank you, uh… Crud... I don't know what to call him. I forgot to discuss "attribution" with him so I don't know what to call him in public.

Okay, paint first and ask questions later. Should prolly have a name for him by the time I post a pic of this next painting.

Guess what I'm gonna be doing tonight… Painting!!!! Yea!


Cheers!