LifeBook Catch-Up Week 17: The Maiden

Week 17 of LifeBook was taught by the lovely Jenny Wentworth. Her soothing voice guided us through a lesson to paint an expressive portrait. My version didn't quite turn out the way I envisaged it. I wanted it to be loose and painterly like hers, but it wasn't meant to be. Maybe I'm just not ready for that level of expression yet. My portraits are still quite tight and illustration-like. Nevertheless, I like some aspects of it. I think I did well with the lips, though looking at it now, her nose is a bit too wide along the ridge, giving her a feline appearance, not unlike the characters in Avatar (perhaps, just very slightly).

I named this picture 'the maiden' as I happened to have Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'ubervilles lying around for collaging (it's the title of one of the chapters) and it seemed rather fitting for my girl. The crown was an afterthought, but I think it fits the painting well. I added the three hearts to break up the whiteness of her shirt. The scribbled background was featured in the lesson, but that's about the only thing in common with it. So, it's not quite what I wanted, but I accept it as part of my creative journey.

I always share my projects even if I'm not 100% happy with them, because I want to inspire other people to make art and show them that you don't need to be an accomplished artist in order to put paint to paper. I found a lot of enjoyment in making this painting, photographing it and putting it on my blog. And that's the only thing that matters to me right now!