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Ayla in Red Jacket 30”x24” Oil is my figurative work today.

I consider painting the figure from life in these three-hour sessions beneficial for the aspiring artist, as well as the advanced. 

This is true even if the artist’s interest is in landscape or still life work.

These sessions that I do weekly or sometimes every other week taught me to focus on drawing and placement of the subject on the canvas. 

They also taught me paint application in a decisive manner. 

Not every attempt is satisfactory, but a few may turn out winners.

On a rare occasion, when returning to the studio, I find minor faults that I fix in one or two brushstrokes.

Often in newsletters writers tell artists to cull artwork that is not up to par with, and may not meet the artist’s standard in skill.  

Not all figurative work that I keep is faultless. Often something in these works intrigues me. 

Some success in portraying the character of the model is one of them, even if the painting has issues that I cannot resolve.