Degas

When I first realized I wanted to be an artist, it was Degas's drawings that particularly attracted me. I have been looking back at Degas's work lately, rediscovering my love for the dynamism of his images -- noticing things in them I'd not noticed before even after very long acquaintance! It has spurred me to draw a lot. I also find myself wanting to deal with the figure, portraying people in ordinary settings as Degas did and searching out the formal beauties of that.
Years ago I did this copy after Degas of the Woman brushing her hair. Now I am looking at his work again and finding new energy for my own. One thing Degas teaches you is the vitality that comes of freedom. Whatever your eyes notice is fair game.

Kimberly Brooks's painting "Portrait of Liz"

I just found this wonderful portrait by Kimberly Brooks at the artist's website. Several or possible all of the images are based upon photography: as the artist explains, "During my last show, "Mom's Friends," about my mother and her friends in the 70s, I foraged through old family albums and found page after delicious page of distorted photos that to me signified nothing less than the new born freedom of a generation redefining itself."
I feel some connection to this topic myself, which Brooks addresses in an interview with photographer Stefanie Schneider. Like these artists, I've also based several of my paintings on old photographs, turning them into reveries of a different sort. The photos I used go back a little farther than Brooks. Some are from the 1940s and one noteable photograph goes back to 1957.


Meanwhile, Brooks's Portrait of Liz has a wonderful angularity about it that is intriguing both formally and psychologically. The tilt of the sitter's head seems to engage us with energy and pique.