[BLOG POST 8/13/24] This past weekend I had the distinct pleasure of giving a presentation to the members of the Pastel Society of New Mexico on the sight-size method. It was titled, "Reviving Renaissance Techniques" and to demonstrate the technique I did a live portrait painting of a volunteer from the audience (above).
Several months ago I attended a PSNM meeting to get a feeling for the space and the audience so when I arrived I was prepared. Well...as prepared as I could be. But dear reader, if I said I wasn’t nervous I would be lying! The demonstration lasted 1 hour and 15 minutes and for the first 15 minutes I felt a little shaky but then I found my stride and started to have fun. 😊
Five years ago I never could have imagined that I would be doing a live demo of a portrait painting.
On some levels it was surreal.
But on other levels it was great!
Sharing knowledge and information is fun and meaningful for me. Any time I get to teach or hopefully inspire someone I’m happy. And the audience at the presentation was attentive, interested, and excited to learn.
Afterwards several people came up to me and told me how much they enjoyed the presentation and the program coordinator said she was impressed at the attendance so overall I think it went really well.
One woman told me she was excited about my work and encouraged me to keep making my symbolism still life paintings. She helped me see that I'm changing the still life genre from pretty flowers to something that has depth and meaning and looks almost surreal (even though I am a realism painter).
Overall I try to not take any criticisms or any excitement of my art by other people too seriously but I'd be lying (again) if I said her comments about my still life paintings didn't put a spring in my step. 😉
Of course on the drive home I thought of all sorts of things I wish I had said differently or simply forgot to say at all! But for my first time doing something like this I feel pretty happy with the event.
Regarding gratitude....
On the drive to Albuquerque for the presentation I was feeling very grateful to my teacher and mentor Nancy Lucas-Williams for teaching me this technique among many other techniques and lessons on how to see and how to create beautiful art.
On the drive back to Las Vegas I was feeling very grateful to the PSNM for asking me to present at their meeting.
And now, as I write this, I’m feeling very grateful to all the twists and turns in my life that brought me to this moment. Life is nothing if not surprising!
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