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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Painted Smiles

As I struggle with portrait painting I think about other painted smiles. What is it about the Mona Lisa that's kept people interested and amazed for hundreds of years?
How much of it was Leonardo's knowledge of anatomy and his skill with a brush and how much of it was the mystery and promise of a story that's kept people guessing all of these years?
I like the look on Dad's face in this photo but I am clueless of how to bring it to the canvas. The smart thing to do would be to study portrait painting and learn the best approach but as my regular readers know, I hardly ever do the smart (and boring) thing in life.
For me, it's a lot more fun to learn by doing...just grab my paints and go to it. Sometimes I'm able to make up for my lack of technical ability on pure instinct and emotion and sometimes I fall flat on my face but I always learn something from the experience and enjoy the trip.
My goal in all of this is to make the viewer FEEL the smile and want to smile back at the painting.

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