Braids and a Black Tee

by David R. Darrow 11" x 14" (27.9cm x 35.6cm)
Oil on Canvas Panel
Not for sale. Collection of the Artist

About This Painting

Maybe you like your job a lot, but do you like it so much that you'd even watch a video of someone else doing it?
Well,that's what I do.
I rent or buy DVDs of other artists painting. I own or have watched videos of Morgan Weistling (portraits and figurative), Scott Burdick (figurative), Richard Schmid (figures, landscapes, portrait) and Roger Bansemer (landscape, plein air), and watch them many times because I always — and I mean always — pick up something new and inspiring, each time. I am constantly inspired and awed by the work of many other artists.
This painting came about as a direct result of 1) having just watched Weistling's 10-hour painting video set Advanced Fundamentals for the Beginning Expert, and 2) seeing my daughter sitting in a certain light with a certain look that is "very her" when deep in thought.
It was one of those moments where I just had to start smooshing paint on a canvas. I purposely chose a limited palette of Alizarin, Yellow Ochre, Black and White.  ◙

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Carmen

by David R. Darrow 14" x 11" (35.6cm x 27.9cm)
Oil on Stretched Canvas
SOLD Collection of Peggy Mione
Lake Forest, CA – USA

About This Painting

"Hey, can I paint your portrait?" I asked, rather out of nowhere, handing her my card. You've got such a great face."

"Yeah?" she asked with a big smile. "You're an artist?"

"No, but I'm thinking of starting..." I joked. My daughter's eyes darted at me suddenly waiting for the resolution. "Yes, I'm an artist. I paint portraits and still lifes, and really whatever I feel like painting... two or three paintings a week. It's how I make my living... and I'd like to paint you."

"That would be so cool!" she beamed. I gave her a few details of how I handle this kind of thing, told her to bring a friend for her own comfort, and told her that I wanted her to look at my paintings on my website, and she would like to be painted by me, e-mail or call me.

I never ask for a potential model's phone number, because I don't want to appear to be 'hitting on them.' I leave it totally up to them. As a result, I do not have a lot of luck getting models from the general public. I might hand out 40 or 50 cards only to people I really want to paint — I am very picky — before one will follow through. It's just an unfortunate byproduct of the world we live in, sadly. That, and perhaps because I eat too many doughnut holes... but that's another story.

Carmen waited on my daughter and I with great patience and a servant's attitude when I took my daughter shopping for her 15th birthday present[s] a few weeks ago. I told my daughter that I would take her to the mall and wait patiently in all the shops she wanted to go in while she tried stuff on, and told her there was no time limit — just a dollar limit.

We spent an entire hour and a half in just one store that caught my daughter's fancy, and Carmen was just delightful the entire time. She offered cheerful conversation, ran about the store grabbing articles she thought might look good on my daughter, reserved items behind the counter for us, and was just genuinely confident and friendly.

As we were finally checking out, I caught a glimpse of Carmen's face in some unique lighting which enhanced the God-given, beautiful structure of her face, and I decided at that moment, that I had to paint her.

I'm so glad she agreed! She is a beautiful person internally, too.  ◙

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