People ask me where I get my ideas, or inspiration for my paintings. Sometimes, ideas come as concepts, like a theme of love, or of a story, or the story behind a character. I get lots of inspiration from the rich themes and accounts in the bible.
Other times, I just see a face that strikes me as someone I’d like to paint. Strangely, it takes more than beauty for me to want to paint it. Such is the case with my Shemar Moore painting.
Yes, the man is aesthetically pleasing. And he has way better eyebrows than I do. I’m not sure how to feel about that.
But he is also a talented actor capable of showing a range of emotions, from strong and immovable, to mischievous teenager to the vulnerability of brokenness—something our world doesn’t see often in men—all in one character.
I’m not an avid tv-watcher. I prefer movies. For a time, I loved Criminal Minds: FBI profilers solving some of the most bizarre, awful, and noteworthy crimes ever committed, in 44 minutes (unless it’s a ‘to be continued’). As Hollywood does, not only did they hire gorgeous leading men, but they had the team doing ‘all the jobs’: one unit doing detective work, forensics, psychological profiling, SWAT, crime scene, and whatever other activities the show called for. Not accurate, as I learned when I worked for a law enforcement agency in Florida, but entertaining nevertheless.
But back to Shemar’s face. I wanted to paint the fierce bravery I saw in his character Derek Morgan. As an actor, he is superb at portraying that. Real law enforcement may not walk around with that smoky look in their eyes, but that fierce bravery is in their hearts.
This painting is made up of thousands of tiny brushstrokes over a collaged background. I used to use big strokes to try to get skin tones accurate, but the tiny strokes work so much better! They are also helpful for inserting color where I need it. Our skin, no matter what the color, is made of many colors we may not realize we see.
I will continue to paint faces which inspire me. I am also going to play with some color on portraits like this and challenge myself not to use any ‘earth’ colors like I do in realistic portraits. I will use bright, unmixed colors. It is a stretch for me, because I may mess up, but, if there are people out there facing the worst of humanity, as law enforcement does, I can certainly play with a little paint to see what happens.
This piece is one of my favorites. It is available, framed, here.
0 Comments