Should all artists work from life?
Looking at art:
Working from life, that is observing a person posing or painting a landscape out of doors, has been a traditional part of art making for ages. This practice is ideal for artists who want their work to resemble real life, however, drawing, painting and sculpting from a posed model has its limitations. Since it is not possible for a model to hold a dynamic pose for an extended length of time, poses can be static, uninteresting or unoriginal. Artists who can’t travel to new locations are restricted to the landscape where they live for outdoor work. What alternative does an artist have when direct observation is not possible or desirable? Abstract art which relies on colors and shapes frees artists from a need to refer to real life at all. Do artists who wish to produce original work have any other alternatives? Although working from photo references can bring with it a preconceived notion that the work is less original, using references opens a world of possible subjects.
Work in the Studio:
My sculpture is most often very abstract because I play with forms that do not replicate reality even when they suggest a figure or a face. The paintings, however are quite realistic and although I have used my drawings from life in some of them, I often use photo references. I prefer to take my own photos which allow me to snap spontaneous moments with people interacting or doing something. When I use a photo, it is rarely only one shot. I often combine images, move things around and change the scale, colors and values. Some of this work is done on a computer in order to establish a strong composition and so you might say that the first step is a collage using my manipulated photos along with the original snapshots. Drawing from the final references comes next. Even after that, there are many decisions to be made while painting to establish a focal point, create a mood or feeling and to produce a cohesive whole.
The Seamstress, Watercolor, 12” x 12”
When we visited Plimouth Plantation in Plymouth, Massachusetts, I took a series of photographs of actors who were playing the parts of English colonists that settled there in 1624. The reference photo for this painting contained a young girl sewing with a striped pillow on her lap (not shown in the painting). Her hands were obscured by a basket and her cloths were a different color from those I selected for the painting. I photographed my own hands to use as a reference that make her look like she is sewing.
