The Model

As a child I drew from imagination, although often inspired by something I had just viewed: an animated program or comic book/magazine. The simple but stylish animation of a Pink Panther cartoon I recall leading to many a sheet of paper. The elegant background art in a Roadrunner and Wiley E. Coyote episode... Fractured Fairy Tales, an epic frame from a fresh Mad Magazine. These medias would fill me with creative energy and send me into long minutes with pencil, ball point and felt tip pen (Flair).
The female figure is hard to argue with for visual and creative interest. I think more artists would use the figure in their work if A) it was more salable and B) they weren't so terrible at it. As a figure painter The Model is indispensable. Without using a real model, one can at best, draw the same (type of) woman over and over (see Frank Frazetta). The way a shadow defines the myriad terrain of each unique woman, changes enormously with the slightest move and differs from time of day and season is a mystery that is only revealed by the human eye and a helpful and courageous art model. Without a model (or the reference material supplied from same) I am a painter with a clutch of brushes standing before an incredibly blank or dull canvas.
This being said there are two camps with regards to the use of a model. One camp says the painter must paint the sitting (standing, laying, whatever) model on site. The other camp says, the pose captured of a live model is likely to be less interesting than endless possibilities captured with the camera's lens. The first camp says paintings from photos are "dead". The second camp say "oh yeah?", etc. One certainly doesn't want a painting to look like a painted photo, and as I wrote in a previous post, a photo will give you much more information than one will NEED for a painting. That's where the painter has to make decisions.
Back to the model for a moment, enough has not been said. Beyond being given the information that a painter needs to begin working, a model gives the painter energy and fire. This combined with technique is what makes a painting worth viewing.

Recent Painting

Going back to watercolors. Allows me to use pigments and attempt to capture some images without the commitment of an oil painting. Like Charles Bukowski said of his poetry, "Get in and get out." It's easier and more difficult. Prior planning is necessary. Soaking the paper over and over again making trails for the color, leaving highlighted areas dry. Adding more and more water, then, dropping in the pigment and adding contrasting color. As the surface quickly begins to dry adding a bit more localized color where one sees fit. Stopping: waiting for complete dryness, planning for the next water trail for a darker pigment load. Finding the way between too bold and brash and subtly boring.

waiting for the bus

Picasso had it right.
The part about finding the bare essentials. Eliminating extraneous detail. I've never really seen a lot of his paintings actually succeed in this arena but that isn't the point. Knowing what the target is and aiming, that's the battle. That and finding the time to enter the fray without being a failure in every other area of your life. Twenty-four hours to be artist and human being. Paint regularly but brush your teeth, play with the baby, exercise and eat well. And paint.
Of course the seduction of the very details one is trying to narrow and eliminate is very strong. Particularly in regards to the human figure. Every curve and niche entice and seduce your attention demanding inclusion. Photographers have it easy, play with the contrast a little this way or that, keeping and erasing with a click. Eliminating while drawing is tough. Not for wimps.