young leonard

[Geoffrey]

tonight's quick offering: leonard in 1963

[LisaLCFan]

A portrait of the artist as a young man. Very nice!

[Geoffrey]

A portrait of the artist as a young man. Very nice!

thank you, lisa. started as a charcoal sketch, but it wept for colour - so took mercy and threw on some acrylic. james joyce fan? 'ulysses' is on youtube
https://youtu.be/M8-e-_BhVtc

[LisaLCFan]

...james joyce fan? ..

I appreciate his work! I thought that a literary reference would be fitting.

Good idea to add colour!

[Geoffrey]

Good idea to add colour!

yes, an idea is like a passport coincidentally found floating in a barely perceptible ether. it carries one into a risky territory, beyond the safe and comfortable. most of us hook onto an idea once in a while, but in order to use it as a foundation stone on which to build something creative one needs the necessary skills - as well as the ability to trust one's judgement. each picture i paint is 90% the result of an idea, and 10% work. therefore i often feel like a fisherman, at the mercy of happenstance.

[Artsinlife]

..Is impressive, his eyes bring quite a melancholic mood..It's said that the most difficult thing by painting is to capture the look of a person, as it influences the overall perceiving of them. I don't know if it is true, but if so, I suppose it can be explained - eyes reflect souls, unique and sometimes mysterious, and as such cannot be depicted easily.

[Geoffrey]

..Is impressive, his eyes bring quite a melancholic mood..It's said that the most difficult thing by painting is to capture the look of a person, as it influences the overall perceiving of them. I don't know if it is true, but if so, I suppose it can be explained - eyes reflect souls, unique and sometimes mysterious, and as such cannot be depicted easily.

i think this is true, but i take no credit for the images that come from my atelier. i believe god is using my hands as his tools, for no mortal man could hope to produce art of such divine quality. often, when a painting is finished, i can only gaze in awe at the supremely magnificent canvas before me.

[LisaLCFan]

And I gaze in awe at the humility gushing forth from your words, Geoffrey.

[Artsinlife]

..Is impressive, his eyes bring quite a melancholic mood..It's said that the most difficult thing by painting is to capture the look of a person, as it influences the overall perceiving of them. I don't know if it is true, but if so, I suppose it can be explained - eyes reflect souls, unique and sometimes mysterious, and as such cannot be depicted easily.

i think this is true, but i take no credit for the images that come from my atelier. i believe god is using my hands as his tools, for no mortal man could hope to produce art of such divine quality. often, when a painting is finished, i can only gaze in awe at the supremely magnificent canvas before me.

The greatest thing that artists can do is to suppress their own ego and to show their thankfulness to the powers beyond own self. Not everybody is capable of such reflexion, so your view of your gift is very appreciated..
How long does it take you to paint such a portrait?

[Geoffrey]

And I gaze in awe at the humility gushing forth from your words, Geoffrey.

well, my grandmother always told me: "speak the truth and shame the devil!" - a good motto to live after. in fact it would be more honest of me to sign my paintings 'God', as these masterpieces are indisputably His work.

[Geoffrey]

How long does it take you to paint such a portrait?

well lucy, this one took quite a long while, about 40 minutes - i am ashamed to say.

[Artsinlife]

How long does it take you to paint such a portrait?

well lucy, this one took quite a long while, about 40 minutes - i am ashamed to say.

Do you really find it a long while?

[Geoffrey]

Do you really find it a long while?

well, in many respects units of time can have a flexible duration, depending upon the measure of enjoyment one is receiving. to a hungry man three minutes waiting for his egg to boil can seem like three hours, or if you are sitting on someone's sofa looking politely through an album of their holiday snaps you have to hold your watch to your ear to see if it is still ticking. on the other hand, if you are doing something totally wicked, or even just shooting rabbits, it's as if the sun races across the sky like a missile. portrait painting demands enthusiasm and concentration, two commodities that quickly bleed to death if not stimulated by fresh impulses. so, in answer to you question: the first ten minutes was great, i was like a fly enjoying a treacle tart, but as i moved across my legs slowly started getting stuck.

[Artsinlife]

Do you really find it a long while?

well, in many respects units of time can have a flexible duration, depending upon the measure of enjoyment one is receiving. to a hungry man three minutes waiting for his egg to boil can seem like three hours, or if you are sitting on someone's sofa looking politely through an album of their holiday snaps you have to hold your watch to your ear to see if it is still ticking. on the other hand, if you are doing something totally wicked, or even just shooting rabbits, it's as if the sun races across the sky like a missile. portrait painting demands enthusiasm and concentration, two commodities that quickly bleed to death if not stimulated by fresh impulses. so, in answer to you question: the first ten minutes was great, i was like a fly enjoying a treacle tart, but as i moved across my legs slowly started getting stuck.

well said, Geoffrey, time is a relative quality. That remark about long time was meant as a joke, as I have a bit old-fashioned view of painters as people working on their work for lots of months and waiting to be struck by some flashing of an idea to be able to proceed with their work. So it surprised me that such a work can be done just in 40 minutes

[Geoffrey]

I have a bit old-fashioned view of painters as people working on their work for lots of months and waiting to be struck by some flashing of an idea to be able to proceed with their work. So it surprised me that such a work can be done just in 40 minutes

i understand. the quicker it takes to do a painting, the more energy it will emit. da vinci's 'mona lisa' is an iconic painting, but is completely flat and dead - he worked on it over several years. so much care he took, such small brushes he used, so perfect it had to be - and the result is identical to what a camera could nowadays produce in a second. munch's 'scream' was done in minutes, is equally iconic - and one can feel energy gushing from it like a waterfall. it was impulsive, is alive, no regard for details, has expression - art in its purest form.