Like so many, my family has had a recent bout of the winter flu, and I’ve been quarantined at home for the last few days. Though I myself am healthy, my wife and son were pretty sick.
It’s a funny thing- just a few days away from the studio, and there was such a slow in momentum. It took me a full two hours to get into the rhythm of painting. I began by painting the violin, heightening this, subduing that, placing the strings, globbing impasto on here and there. I’m pleased, I feel it is one of my best violin paintings.
Then, Tom came to pose. I only had an hour and a half, and so I painted rapidly. At the end of the session, in about three minutes, I hastily gestured the arms in. Here’s the result. I’m not happy with the bit of work I did on the arms, it doesn’t look right. Oh well, that’s what I get for rushing, I’ll have to wipe that off tomorrow.
As far as the arms are concerned, think of my favorite Chinese proverb: “Bu pa man; jiu pa zhan” (Don’t fear slow progress; just fear no progress).