The Process

Lautrec drawing of singer Yvette Guilbert (artistic inspiration)

Reference photo for painting

Sophisticated Lady (Rebecca in Gloves)

I'm trying to document my creative process, if only for myself. But I think it is crucial for an artist to look at why certain influences are important, what is the goal of painting or drawing, using a particular process, media, subject matter, color...all of those things. I hope that as I enter information and post paintings, I'll begin to see my own work in a more objective light.

This was a fun piece, one where I began to get more uninhibited with color, less afraid of botching a portrait, and more confident about the "look" I wanted. I did not ask Rebecca to pose like this. It was a natural moment after I gave her the gloves to put on. The portrait of Yvette Guilbert is one I love because it is so dead-on candid and graphically edited to capture the singer exactly as she was. I had hoped to try to capture a similar feeling, even though as you can see from the reference photo, much interpretation was done, but the expression was very much what the drawn portrait suggested, not overtly caricature, but a with enough cheeky wink*wink*! How fun. And Becky is a born artist's model.