Saturday, July 14, 2018

Dreaming of bread...

I have spent most waking hours of several days working on the figurative piece shown as a line drawing in my last post. I had, what I thought was a good idea: to paint an acrylic underpainting and then work in oil on top but I have run into a big problem (besides my negative attitude about acrylic).

The reference photo is my sister and her great grandson. The likeness of my sister looks GREAT. Her grandson does not. I am determined to get his little face right but it is taking many days of starting over and over...and over.




I am more challenged than I have been in a long time. It is exhausting. You may remember one of my posts that included a recipe for overnight Artisan bread. I mentioned eating the whole loaf if your painting wasn't going well. I love bread. It is one of my comfort foods. Last night I dreamed of carrying a huge stack of warm bread, taller than I am,  and eating those that touched my mouth. Very delicious and comforting.

I figure these are my options: 
1. Stop and declare defeat (that's not going to happen).
2. Blame it on acrylic (I might do that but I'm not there yet).
3. Put the grandchild to sleep as I did in the last photo so I don't have to deal with his eye and what he is thinking. (Hmmm...)

The story of this painting hasn't been painted yet. It is about the plate of food on the table. My sister was in mid-bite (food on fork on the plate) when apparently it became necessary to pick up and hold her great grandson. Aha! I just had an idea. I will call my sister and ask what was was going on. 
....One hour later....she says she always stops mid-bite if something comes up that she would rather be doing. She remembers the child walking over to her so she picked him up. Back to it...

...Five hours later...
I think I can sleep tonight without dreaming of bread. I have been painting with my most student-grade acrylics. I got so desperate that I brought out my professional acrylics and gave the medium some respect. So, basically, I changed my attitude yet again. 















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