Most everyone has heard/ told/ lived through the joke of meeting people off of the internet.
There are an awful lot of images and carefully cultivated personas to sift through when you're shopping online for another human being.
It is, often, legitimately weird.
I'd like to showcase some of the people who I meet, as they "actually are", in their elements, with paint.
"Requirements":
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We want a narrative element in each of the paintings. - These people must be doing something distinct from posing for reference photos: eating watermelon, vacuuming, I don't particularly care but, ideally, something that is indicative of the person's personality.
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We also want to see something of these people in their environments: I don't want to paint all the bobble-headed minutia in someone's apartment, but I do want to see them in clearly defined places where they are comfortable. Outside is fine for "outdoorsy types". Books in the background for the people with particularly thick glasses...
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We want to retain something of the "come-hither" that is projected online. What I most want to see is (at least) one bare shoulder. I think this is the most basic level of allure that is still immediately understandable.
If anybody wanted to be painted mostly naked, I can make that happen but we want to make one shoulder a feature.
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At least a bare shoulder and a telephone/ computer/ or tablet (somewhere) in the scene. This should tie the paintings together coherently and each piece to the theme of the project.
We'll stage photos so we can get: the lighting, the pose, any necessary props, etcetera just right (without wasting too much of the subjects' time). The paintings will be completed from these reference photos.
They'll be painted in oil, at a minimum scale of 18 x 24".
I'd like to use some portion of the text from each person's online profile to hang beside the paintings when they are displayed. I don't need it, but it will work to greater effect if I can have permission to do that.
