As an artist that works with representations of people, the process ne plus ultra for engaging painting is the life session– with model in place, in a studied light schema, in timed (usually 20 minutes) intervals. Working diligently in a contained span of time, working “from life” to create a finished- to near-finished painting, calls all you are as a painter to the easel, all at once. Decisions have to flow steadily and constantly. There is little room for fuss and muss; no unloaded brushes, no fiddling dragging of paint, just going, with intuitions about form, proportion, edges, and values, firing left and right.
Such was the scene Tuesday morning, at Teri Otten’s studio, and the resultant work is featured here. For me, what the painting may lack in finish is outpaced by the sense that it is a breathing connection to the subject. It’s a spiritual thing, really. I hope you experience that too.
