more with less?
More later on the why's, but the idea was to work with limited resources- one brush, titianium white, burnt sienna, yellow ochre and mars black, 45 minutes of model time and no additional references, and then another couple of hours to paint and then see how far I could go.
This is where I landed. The substrate is Rives BFK, the underdrawing Conte, sealed with a couple of coats of shellac. 
So- here are some of the whys...not in any particular order, but they're all a factor. Let's start with the little MFA program that could, which is an example of doing more with less in and of itself. My father's university work took place pretty soon after the end of WWII, in a city that had been bombed to the ground, and I always wondered what that was like, and my take away from his experience is that one really and truly does get what one puts into it. Time, less of it, ditto. Then there is my magpie like attraction to tubes of pretty paint-color, color and more color- and the knowledge that I know that I can squeeze a lot more out of just a few, but I've never bothered to really push for the possibilities inherent in let's say, a tube of burnt sienna. My figure drawing class comes into play as well- so many drawings, and it's not even mid term but I'm feeling like I need to do more than what I can jockey out of my crayons in class. The caveat being: the model is gone. I don't have a photo reference, and I don't want to just make it up. So...fortuitously, my instructor, Elizabeth Leeor had directed us to take a look at other artists currently working in the figure and to articulate what drew us to them. I thought about it- John Currin came to mind, who is oddly fascinating, Robert Liberace, Daniel Greene, and last, but certainly not least, I settled on Vincent Desiderio. (I'll find a link for him.) In that process, I came across a description of workshop he did at PAFA, and saw this method of shellacing a life drawing on BFK, and then going from there to anywhere, and I said to myself- you have plenty of Rives, and shellac holds a near and dear place in your heart, so give it a go.
Here you have it. I allotted myself the kind of time one would have in a workshop, just to see what could be eked out in an all out push, and am very pleased at the distance one can go. I also like the midground shellac very much, and am planning on using it in other places as well, most notably my metalpoints on mylar. Today's figure drawing plan is to make a smaller, more complete drawing on Rives and to try this again, hopefully to get a complete piece out of the methodology. It would be great to get the sort of dynamics of a live model captured this way, so keep your fingers crossed for me.
and finally have gotten it laid down and corrected to the point where I can start working on concept. I'm using the Senso linen again, as I have for the other pieces in this semester's series on the
figure, and intend to give it it's due, allowing it to remain visible in the final iteration.
That's part of the whole theme of semipermeability, transparence, and seeing and not seeing skin. Tomorrow I'll launch into the tatoos that covered the model.
So that I can see through them, to see through her, which in turn will allow us to see through to the canvas. That is, with any luck at all...
Working on campus has had its distractions these last few, not the least of which has been an average temperature of 92 degrees in the studio while the outside temp hovers just above freezing. The joys of a 70s vintage hermetically sealed building combined with a southern exposure. I had to get creative about my working attire, stripping out of jeans and a sweater into the drapery I'd previously used as a model backdrop. Geez. After that adventure, I spent the next two afternoons working at home, where I'm in charge of the thermostat, but Friday I was back to campus to test the waters- no difference. All of this to say that focus is something needs to be fought for upon occasion. 
