Presence, Diagonal, and the book

It was a bit frustrating trying to get into the studio this morning!  I had a dentist's appointment at 8:50 then went to the office supply store, getting home a bit after 11.  I went to visit with Chris and ended up working with him to design a table for the miter saw and frame joiner which will fit into the garage with the table saw.  The man has been buying some tools!  I used to think our basement was huge, but now with the table saw and joiner and miter saw and 2 router tables and the room with the framing table in it, it's starting to get quite crowded!  Crazy!  We're very blessed to have so much space!

After all that talking and after lunch, I finally made it out to the studio where I began working on Diagonal somemore.  I refined the scar and belly sections which I don't think are showing up too well on the larger photo.  I need to take a picture in daylight rather than artificial light.  I think the piece might be finished, but, again, I'll need to see it in daylight to be sure. 

Chris came out and took a look at Presence and had some suggestions for how to improve it, so I did a little bit of work on it after feeling finished with Diagonal.  (I need a better name for that one!  Any ideas?)  I think Presence is looking better now. One thing he wanted me to add were some blemishes that are on her leg in the photo.  He thought it would help the expanse of thigh look more realistic.  They are there now!  I'll see how the piece looks tomorrow, again, in daylight, to see how finished it looks.  I worked on the foot some more because the shadow on it was bugging me.  I am more pleased with it now.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about the book I'd like to write about this series of paintings.  I think what I'll do is tell stories about each of the paintings - about photographing the women, about conversations we had about the process or the photographs, about the painting, about responses to the paintings - whatever makes sense about each painting.  I had been thinking about talking about the media and society and how each perceives women, etc.  I think that is all important, but I am not moved to do the type of research that would give me scientific accuracy.  I'm more interested in telling stories, anecdotes about these wonderful women and experience of photographing and painting them.  Some of the models have been kind enough to write about their experiences so I'll incorporate those writings in what I write.  I'm looking forward to getting more of a start on that now that I know better what I want to do.

I'm in the process of applying for a Fellowship to live in Italy for a month so I could take some super concentrated time to work on the book as well as more paintings.  That would be next Fall.  Wish me luck!