Yury Yanin 11 Oct 2016

Hi, I can understand only too well your feelings when you say that you want to have a painting or drawing of a loved person. And still…. forget all that for a moment and think over a bit another approach, please… There was time when I loved to make digital (computer) portraits, based on old photos. On one hand it was not completely my personal artwork, started with a blank list, depending on my skills and feelings only. There were as if more reality and truth in it, which framed my imagination. On another hand as a result I had a modern looking portrait of a person whom I loved. When making such portraits I usually had a feeling as if I was taking a person from old times into our current reality. Attached is a portrait of my wife, based on a bad quality B&W photo, taken circa 1981. If you want to try this approach, contact me, please, by e-mail: [email protected] Best regards Yury

Balanmurugan Jeevarathinam 03 Jul 2017

Hi, This is Bala from India. I came across your post regarding portrait of your grandma. I know I am responding very late.

I am very much interested in doing Pencil Drawing. I have attached one of my Pencil Drawing. If you need any such work in future, please let me know . Thanks. Bye!

Vincent von Frese 14 Jul 2017

Collusion for sure Yuri LOL!

Once a long time ago I was approached by some farm people and asked to make such a family portrait but the photos they gave me of the family were very unclear. Foolishly I tried it anyway and when they unveiled it they all became very silent.

I presume it was not to embarrass me by saying what they thought about the work. Looking back it was quite funny as I am sure my portrait showed faces which looked nothing like their relatives! Never use a snapshot of someone for exact portraiture because an amateur photo snapshot that has no real detail to make a portrait from.

Yury Yanin 14 Jul 2017

Hi Vince, I think it is an essence of ART – to show what we feel in addition to what we see or instead of it. They got what they had ordered – your ART. For a more technical resemblance they ought to have better photos and to restore them with some advanced machinery. Unfortunately people more often expect resemblance, not ART. In the above portrait I tried to preserve both.

Yury Yanin 15 Jul 2017

A very good portrait… resemblance including, I am sure… The initiator of this thred seems to have lost his original interest... too bad... he has lost too much... LOL

You also reminded me one episode from a Russian fantasy movie. Police tried to find a famous criminal, who was known under a nick name Checkered. The problem was that the Checkered was very cruel and used to kill everyone, who had ever seen his face. So people were afraid of him, but could not recognize him. With a great difficulty police found a few persons, daring criminals themselves, who ever met Checkered and were still alive. One of them was wounded and paralyzed after a meeting with him. Then policemen were lucky at last to find a painter, who occasionally saw the Checkered. They ordered a portrait of Checkered and gathered all the other witnesses for the day when the artist was scheduled to submit his artwork. The day has come, the painter has brought the portrait… policemen opened their eyes to see the famous Checkered for the first time… Unfortunately the artist turned out to be an abstractionist… There were crossed lines only… And still when police showed that ART to the others, all the criminals, including the paralyzed one, sprang onto their legs and ran away, crying out in horror: IT IS THE CHECKERED!!!!!

The power of ART, you know…

Vincent von Frese 15 Jul 2017

Great story Yuri. I would be wondering whom I could recognize to but very funny being abstract.

Since the inquirer has not responded after your offer of pencil sketching then they had their chance with you. Too bad they did not take advantage!

Here is progress on an oil portrait I am about half through it. She is completely made up and not from a real model. Perhaps she is a spirit of an elegant Italian lady. Renaissance Woman is current title and it is 24"X30" oil on canvas. I am going to use real gold for the necklace and earrings for the lady. I am undecided in a background and some skin details. It's part of a side hobby studying pre-20th century portrait painting which I enjoy at the museums.

Yury Yanin 16 Jul 2017

GREAT!!! Vince, you always surprise me. I've never expected anything like that from you! It will be marvelous portrait... generalised mediterrian beauty! Continue this artwork, please. Background? May be some vaque Renaissance type landscape? (attached examp;e). May be not - too evident, stright forward decision...May be some palace interior or just decorative materials, or plain colored field... No, I do not dare to advise. You know better.

Vincent von Frese 16 Jul 2017

Thank you very much for the compliment Yuri! Yea it could be that she waits for her Knight (to return from battle) from the balcony of a castle...gazing down into the the horizon full of hope...or something like that (romantics). I wanted to make some sort of narrative in a poetic sense which I see little or none in modern art.

Yury Yanin 18 Jul 2017

Vince, that was a TV serial, mostly based on novels by R. L. Stevenson - “The Suicide Club” and others. The main evil hero was the Chairman of that club, who was an internationally famous criminal. He had many nicknames, including Checkered. I do not know the origins of that nickname. The serial itself was surely a talented piece of ART and may be there was more ART then resemblance there too. I am not even sure that there was a correct translation of the original Stevenson text and that nickname in the Russian variant, and my backwards translation may be also was not too exact. As for this thread, it seems that the initiator just lost his interest and is not going to choose anyone anymore for this commission. May be it is kind of a disappointment… The following picture I call “Broken desire”

Yury Yanin 19 Jul 2017

BROKEN DESIRE PICTURE. As far as I remember, my grandson, who was about 2 y.o. in that time, made some initial drawing, then I played with it in my PC and this Broken Desire picture came out of it… Abstract… As I feel it, it is kind of music for eyes. As music, it mustn’t always have a certain meaning or object, it is not a perfect description, more often it is a vague image of some feeling. As music it can be rhythmical, sharp or smooth, super contrast, or tastefully colored and light balanced… It mustn’t be always intended creation, sometimes my PC may just surprise me with an unexpected abstract, or I can see some abstraction among flowers or elsewhere in Nature… Oh NO, Vince, I like abstract ART, meaning that I like to surprise myself sometimes, making or finding an abstract… However, YES, Vince, I also do not like to go to museums with abstract pictures only, I prefer classic, figurative realism. Surrealism? Most often I do not like surreal ART, only sometimes some pictures of this kind seem interesting to me. On the other hand, sometimes I myself insert some realistic object into some abstraction or visa versa… most often just for a joke as that UFO picture below….

Vincent von Frese 19 Jul 2017

Well done picture like a flying saucer. But by abstract directions there may be meaning and pleasure for everyone or just a few yes and life is what one can find in it all I agree. For me specifically I am happy anyone and all make artwork. But then I choose to not spend any time analyzing cracks in the road or stains on the wall. If a person were stuck in a South American prison then there is all that abstract on the wall or they can install a ship inside an empty bottle of Rum having a few lonely years to do so as the Count of Monty Christo had.

I would not judge computer graphics as a medium of true abstract art because there is technology beyond personal ability involved. And as well choices are not yours to make but the computer schematics like robotics.

Here is one I produced as a flag. Flag of Destiny.

Yury Yanin 20 Jul 2017

Vince, you are the ARTIST, while I am an artist. You create ART elaborately, skillfully, seriously, that is your life, while I just entertain myself with either more or less serious art or with a funny artwork, or even with any technical resemblance of art. That’s the difference, I think.

Vincent von Frese 22 Jul 2017

Ok....a head on collusion! Fun talking about art anyway Yuri!

Yury Yanin 23 Jul 2017

Yep, it is a fun too... You’ve confused me a bit with your supposition about collusion. I am not sure that I know English enough to understand you clearly… but you reminded me one of my artworks. I understand that collusion is not collision and still the following artwork can have some meaning for our art conversation. I titled it “COLLISION OF COLORS”. People in foreign countries seldom understand its meaning. The horizontal composition of RED and BLACK is the flag and colors of the modern Ukrainian NEO NAZI. I say an abstract can also have some very realistic meaning sometimes…

W. James Taylor 14 Aug 2017

I would love to here is a portrait i did of my Father

thanks for the opportunity

W James Taylor

Yury Yanin 14 Aug 2017

It is a really no jokes solid, emotional ART. And it much closer fits the initial idea of this thread. Thank you for sharing W. James Tailor!,

Vincent von Frese 24 Aug 2017

My guess is James Green has simply lost interest in getting some family portraiture of his late Grandmother.

I always wanted a portrait of any of my dog's grandmother but do not have a photo of her! My tortoises(African Leopard and Afghanistan) all look just like their grand parents so no need I guess.

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