Bringing a dream to life - Marilyn at "the window" | Oil painting vision
A painting - decades in the making. It was a grand dream, one that would haunt me for years. In my early days as a watercolor artist, I'd often look for subjects of inspiration. Often, as I had no camera I would look through magazines and books for ideas.
One day, I purchased a People Magazine with an article on Marilyn Monroe. The one photograph of her sitting in a parlor window posing like a mannequin was so arresting that I had to paint it.
I remember spending several days working graveyard shifts in a stockroom (without an easel), slouched over a desk and teasing the watercolor paints to get the effect I desired.
It was the late 90's and I was still very new to the media. In fact, up until then I had barely touched a brush. Pens, pencils, a few acrylic paintings and the occasional air-brush were what I had been comfortable with. And still, with no training I taught myself with inferior paints and papers.
So there I was, late at night and all caught up with my work doing what artists do. Co-workers would drop by the counter every now and then, some to check out tools and parts, while others came to look in on my progress.
With the magazine beside the small watercolor paper, I had no problem matching the myriad of vibrant colors displayed in Marilyn's dress. And even though painting a fairly close likeness of her face posed a challenge (especially when her head in the painting measured about an inch), I was ecstatic. This was fun!
One night after a few days of work, I looked down at the painting laying flat on the desk top, then to the picture beside it and smiled proudly. I'd done it!
My friend Art (short for Arthur) stopped by the stock room and I lifted the painting up to show him.
"Her face looks kind of long, doesn't it," he said.
I held it straight out. Then put it back on the desk.
You know how when you drive down a road and the letters painted on it look perfectly proportional, but if you looked down on them from above, they would look elongated?
That can also happen if you sketch and paint without an easel. And so, I slowly tilted the painting from a flat position and her face would stretch. It was kind of cool in it's own way.
My journey to discover my love of watercolor and oil painting was just beginning. It would be another 11 years before the ambitious artistic vision of "The Window" tugged at my soul.
And that dream, what I'd hold in my mind years later, inspired by that beautiful photo is exactly what I am sharing with you today in this video.
~ Enjoy
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