Vermont’s governor locked down the state pretty early in the Corona response and I moved a painting kit home and cleared out our guest/laundry room in late March. I couldn’t decide between oils or acrylics, so brought home both. But, in an effort to try and give myself some boundaries (too often, no boundaries is overwhelming and paralyzing), I only brought 6x6” gessobords and decided I would limit myself to those. I thought I would take this time to focus on portraits.
I started using some photographs I had already collected from friends — pictures of their husbands and kids and decided to start with the oils:
It finally feels like the portraits are starting to come together without so much struggle, though of course, they all still seem to go through a stage of despair before a final rescue and pull-together toward resolution/conclusion.