Dana Fredericksen Is Face #91

"Dana Fredericksen: Face #91," oil, 12"h x 12"w, copyright Jill Banks 2011

There are THREE posts from today. Check them all out!

I actually painted Dana yesterday. My double-up day as the final catch-up day to paint 100 Faces in 100 Days. I wasn't satisfied at the end of our session with the painting so I finished up after today's painting of Emily. I still haven't had time to evaluate what I think about it but I bet it's better than I know.

Dana will have to come back for a photo with painting shot ... that matches her to the photo.

I took this photo under tungsten lights ... (regular overhead yellowish lights after the sun had gone down) ... so it's a bit different than reality. I'll replace it sometime soon with a more accurate one.

Dana's studying painting. Letting herself grow. She talked about being on a ten-year plan. Not making judgments about whether painting was her "thing" or not until she had given it a very fair shot. That makes all the sense in the world to me. It takes time. Lots of time. She's also not pushing herself to do anything about marketing her work. She's giving herself breathing room to just paint and learn.

Dana has been working on self-portraits and told me that if I came up with any clues for her ... as I painted away ... to let her know.  A surprise for me (something I didn't naturally catch) ... was the distance between the bottom of her nose and top of her upper lip. Try looking at it as a shape. Squint. (That's about the same height -- on Dana -- as the width of the lips in total and the space between the lips and the chin.)

I look at so many of these faces ... while I'm painting them ... and I just don't know what I have. Does it reflect the person in front of me? Occasionally, I know for sure.

Upcoming Exhibits of My 100 Faces in 100 Days Project: May 2011 at the Great Falls Public Library (Great Falls, VA). Reception: Saturday, May 7 afternoon. Demo/Talk: Saturday, May 21
August 2011 at the Gallery in the Artists' Atelier, 1144 Walker Road, Suite G, Great Falls, VA. Details to come.

Web: www.jillbanks.com
Blog: jillbanks.blogspot.com
100 Faces in 100 Days Project: www.jillbanks.com/jillbanks/100_Faces_in_100_Days_Project.html
Email: jillbanks1@aol.com
Phone: 703.403.7435