Trials of Acrylic Painting

 In the first few months, we went on a road trip down to Wellington. Part of the trip included a stop in Napier, where we visited a museum. This museum featured several audiovisual displays, and one of these was about a woman named Mei Whaitiri. She had been chosen at the age of 13 to be the model for Pania on the Reef.

I thought she had quite an interesting face, even though she was about 70 or 80 in the video. I found her to be a compelling character to draw. My first effort, however, ended up looking more like a baboon. Fortunately, after about four iterations, I managed to produce a drawing that I was reasonably happy with—though it wasn’t a true likeness, as you can see from the photo of her and my drawing based on it. I had great difficulties with the head being slightly tilted back.

You can see a video of her here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYUUiDJLpzA

I then decided that this would make a good portrait to try in acrylics. Unfortunately, the results were so alarmingly terrible that I lost all enthusiasm for painting portraits. Maybe it’s just something you have to keep practicing before you gain any real proficiency. Still, I’m puzzled as to why I can draw something reasonably well, yet the moment I pick up a paintbrush, everything turns to custard.

 I will not show it here as it is terrible.

Along these lines, earlier on I had seen a picture in the foyer of our retirement home. I was quite taken with it—it showed some buildings with water in the foreground and a few boats. I thought, That’s a good project for me, especially since I had found a canvas beside the road. The canvas, however, had been painted orange, which didn’t make things easy.

I soon discovered that simply copying someone else’s brushstrokes is not as straightforward as it seems. I ended up with something I thought looked terrible. I propped it up against the wall, planning to paint over it later. But after a while, I got used to the picture. I thought, Well, it’s a picture. Thousands of people paint thousands of pictures, and they all look different. Why shouldn’t mine be just as valid? Even though it’s not very professional-looking—who cares?