"Nancy in Aqua", 14x18, oil on canvas

"Nancy in Aqua", 14x18, oil on canvas

Over the past few weeks, I've been trying my best to regularly attend the open studio sessions with a live model on Friday afternoons at The Venice Art Center. I have realized that the more that I paint portraits from life, the better I can evaluate values, colors and light temperature.

Nancy modeled for us last Friday as well, and this is the first time that I actually was able to attend two consecutive sessions with the same model. At the end of the day on Friday, Nancy had asked me if she could use a photo of my painting for her website, so I decided that I'd better make a good attempt to put on the finishing details at home.

I added the jewelry on her blouse at home, as well as playing around with that darned striped cushion! But for the most part , I was able to finish her face in the 5 hour session satisfactorily.

Nancy was a very good model- anxious to please and stayed perfectly still throughout. She is also an artist herself, so she had a very good understanding of the struggles artists go through in attempting to perform their craft to the best of their ability.

I was happy with the end result. I think I did a fairly decent job of rendering Nancy's character into the portrait. Nancy is an avid outdoors-woman, comfortable in her own skin, and like me she also enjoys ballet class :0) She also fishes, kayaks, hikes and paints images on coconuts, which she calls "Coconut Telegraphs", which she appropriately sells at a gallery in Key West. Whew! That's a lot of activity!

Nancy, however, has done a much better job at maintaining a ballerina's slim figure than I have!

Thanks Nancy, for the opportunity to paint you!