Zoom has me staring at my face all day. I try not to look, but there I am. Somewhere in the settings I clicked the mirror image option, so now what I see is different from the view I have seen all my life. My face is backwards. It’s disconcerting. Looking at myself this way, I see things about my face I’ve never noticed before, like how crooked my nose is, and how one tooth isn’t in line with the rest. No wonder I didn’t see it before, because one eye is always half closed – that must be my artist eye, squinting to see values. Or maybe I’m just tired.
Lucian Freud, Self Portrait
Alice Neel learned from her teacher that everyone has a dominant eye. She took the idea and ran with it. She painted her subjects with one dominant hand, one weak one. I was remarking about this in a class, laughing at how odd it is that we have two identical hands but only one works. A student who also teaches dance said everyone’s body is asymmetrical for balance and strength. One side is better at strength, the other at balance and dexterity. It was about that moment that I imagined us all as crabs. I realized it wasn’t an accident that our “non-dominant” hands aren’t as dexterous as our “dominant” hands, they’re just built to have different skills. I am sorry I have not (knowingly) been exercising mine to achieve its full potential.
Alice Neel, Portrait showing one weak and one dominant hand
A typical portraits class has us all measuring ideal proportions. The head is five eye lengths wide. The eyes are halfway down the head. The corners of the mouth are directly below each iris. Knowing the proportions of the face help us avoid making the typical mistakes of shortening the forehead and widening the eyes, but they don’t really help us express the personality in a face. Our faces aren’t symmetrical. Even if they were, we only see one piece at a time. Why do we try to pretend we don’t? In Expressive Portraits class, I had everyone focus on asymmetry for an evening of sketches.
David Hockney, Portrait of Mother III, 1985
We looked at portraits by Alice Neel, Lucian Freud, and David Hockney for inspiration, and then we began a series of sketches. At first it was difficult for me to not fix things, not to remeasure and align. It took effort to assert and emphasize the differences, but every time we did it made a more interesting drawing, and more fun all round.
Drawings by Shima Bhamra, Liz Hejlsberg, Katie Jo Keppinger, Anne Walker, Alex Walker, and Ruthie V.
Portraits from Sktchy app, featuring faces posted by Lorraine Weberg, Aeb Art, and Cody Kay. Special guest star: Stephen Fry.
With experience copying classical antique sculptures in Florence, Francis Harwood created this exceptional sculpture which combined the elements of classical sculpture with the subject of a more modern (1700s) Black individual – a subject we do not frequently have the privilege of seeing. In fact, this noble bust by Francis Harwood is one of the …
Colors have a way of playing off each other, creating energy and movement that grabs your attention. This is called simultaneous contrast—when two or more neighboring colors intensify each other, making them seem more vibrant and alive. I’m looking at paintings for simultaneous contrast examples. Paintings that set colors one right next to the other, …
Kathy Paul was a student in my figure drawing class when a sequence of strokes in her optic nerves left her almost completely blind. She has been drawing nearly every day since. In her multi year work of rehabilitation, Paul has produced a series of extraordinary drawings that call attention to the experience of sight …
[image_with_animation image_url=”9247″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Re-etched Rembrandt Drypoint Prints Traditional drypoints are made by using a scribe (a sharp metal pointy thing) and a burin (a different sharp metal pointy thing) to scratch marks into a smooth copper plate. Introduction to Printmaking After drawing with the sharp metal pointy things, ink is rolled across …
Asymmetrical Faces
Zoom has me staring at my face all day. I try not to look, but there I am. Somewhere in the settings I clicked the mirror image option, so now what I see is different from the view I have seen all my life. My face is backwards. It’s disconcerting. Looking at myself this way, I see things about my face I’ve never noticed before, like how crooked my nose is, and how one tooth isn’t in line with the rest. No wonder I didn’t see it before, because one eye is always half closed – that must be my artist eye, squinting to see values. Or maybe I’m just tired.
Alice Neel learned from her teacher that everyone has a dominant eye. She took the idea and ran with it. She painted her subjects with one dominant hand, one weak one. I was remarking about this in a class, laughing at how odd it is that we have two identical hands but only one works. A student who also teaches dance said everyone’s body is asymmetrical for balance and strength. One side is better at strength, the other at balance and dexterity. It was about that moment that I imagined us all as crabs. I realized it wasn’t an accident that our “non-dominant” hands aren’t as dexterous as our “dominant” hands, they’re just built to have different skills. I am sorry I have not (knowingly) been exercising mine to achieve its full potential.
A typical portraits class has us all measuring ideal proportions. The head is five eye lengths wide. The eyes are halfway down the head. The corners of the mouth are directly below each iris. Knowing the proportions of the face help us avoid making the typical mistakes of shortening the forehead and widening the eyes, but they don’t really help us express the personality in a face. Our faces aren’t symmetrical. Even if they were, we only see one piece at a time. Why do we try to pretend we don’t? In Expressive Portraits class, I had everyone focus on asymmetry for an evening of sketches.
We looked at portraits by Alice Neel, Lucian Freud, and David Hockney for inspiration, and then we began a series of sketches. At first it was difficult for me to not fix things, not to remeasure and align. It took effort to assert and emphasize the differences, but every time we did it made a more interesting drawing, and more fun all round.
Drawings by Shima Bhamra, Liz Hejlsberg, Katie Jo Keppinger, Anne Walker, Alex Walker, and Ruthie V.
Portraits from Sktchy app, featuring faces posted by Lorraine Weberg, Aeb Art, and Cody Kay. Special guest star: Stephen Fry.
Related Posts
Bust of a Man
With experience copying classical antique sculptures in Florence, Francis Harwood created this exceptional sculpture which combined the elements of classical sculpture with the subject of a more modern (1700s) Black individual – a subject we do not frequently have the privilege of seeing. In fact, this noble bust by Francis Harwood is one of the …
Simultaneous Contrast: Philip Guston’s Green
Colors have a way of playing off each other, creating energy and movement that grabs your attention. This is called simultaneous contrast—when two or more neighboring colors intensify each other, making them seem more vibrant and alive. I’m looking at paintings for simultaneous contrast examples. Paintings that set colors one right next to the other, …
Aberrations; an artist’s journey with blindness. Solo show by Kathy Paul
Kathy Paul was a student in my figure drawing class when a sequence of strokes in her optic nerves left her almost completely blind. She has been drawing nearly every day since. In her multi year work of rehabilitation, Paul has produced a series of extraordinary drawings that call attention to the experience of sight …
Gotcha, You Fucker!
[image_with_animation image_url=”9247″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Re-etched Rembrandt Drypoint Prints Traditional drypoints are made by using a scribe (a sharp metal pointy thing) and a burin (a different sharp metal pointy thing) to scratch marks into a smooth copper plate. Introduction to Printmaking After drawing with the sharp metal pointy things, ink is rolled across …