So day 9 of 30 days of Painting Paul Newman. I see other people in my portraits all the time. In this one - I'm seeing Sean Connery as James Bond. Maybe it's just the pose, but I can't shake it. I do like this one better than yesterdays although it still seems unfinished.
I decided to start doing a painting a day 30 days ago today. Yay! I am getting serious about my painting. I've been taking classes, and feel the best way to improve is to paint a little every day. I try to set limits on how long I paint during the week, because I do have a job and a teenage son to take care of.
I thought it might be a good idea to reiterate why I'm painting this particular movie star, so here goes:
My favorite thing to paint is portraits, so one day I painted Paul Newman. It was really disappointing. He looked more like George Bush than Newman. So I tried again the next day, and *sigh* it still wasn't very good. I now have 9 portraits of Paul Newman, and I'm excited because I actually am proud of a couple of them. I feel like you can really see my progress through the work. I also feel like I'm starting to develop a little bit of my own style.
I have this desire to paint people who have made a difference. I call them my real life heroes. I painted the man in the red bandana from 9-11 a while back, Eudora Welty too, and now my hero Paul Newman. Don't get me wrong. I'm not fascinated with Paul Newman, the movie star. I'm fascinated with the family man who didn't didn't seem to take himself too seriously. He gave back millions through Newman's Own. I love it that he put up a reward to protect the first amendment. So yes, Newman is a hero to me. His life was meaningful.
I have made it my goal to paint Newman for 30 days. I thought it would be a good idea to donate the portraits to one of Newman's charities. They can hang them or auction them - whatever they like.
So in case you wanted to know, that's why I'm painting Paul Newman. ;)
