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The Letter: Step 7

The Letter

Ah yes, the feet.  It should be no surprise to you veteran Studio visitors that I have, yet again, composed an image in which the figure is barefoot.  It isn’t that I intentionally set out to design barefoot compositions as that they seem to me to convey a comfortable intimacy in compositions where the figure is deep in their own thoughts.  Have I made too big a deal of the feet in the past few installments of the studio?   They really are just so rewarding to paint, possibly because they can so easily go so wrong.  In this case the extreme brightness of the reflected light (as bright if not brighter than the primary) made for a particularly interesting sort of mid-leg/foot shadow which had me constantly second guessing my value scheme.  Once completed, however, I was quite pleased.  I suspect that the effect will be even better once the concrete and stone wall behind is complete to add some context to the lighting. I will have to be patient, however, as I intend to finish the shirt and the skirt first.

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About Bryan Larsen ~

Bryan Larsen

"I was born on February 12, 1975, and have been drawing as long as I can remember. By the time I was in high school, I knew I wanted to be an artist, although at the time I didn't have a clear idea of how exactly I would use my talents to make a living.

"As I continued studying art, I began to suspect that fine visual art was dead. No one seemed interested in teaching students how to draw well, or paint well. More often than not, my own skills exceeded those of my instructors.

"The only field left that seemed to require good drawing, painting, and compositional skills was illustration, and therefore I began studying illustration at Utah State University in Logan, Utah. I became even more convinced that I had made the right decision in staying away from fine art as I endured course after course of required "drawing" and "painting" classes in which instructors required me to draw with "less focus", or use ridiculous materials such as shellac, glue, sand, salt, etc.

"My second year at Utah State, I met Damon Denys. In discussing Art with him I realized that there were other people who believed that technique and subject matter were indispensable components of any work of art. I then decided that I would work to develop my own painting skills with the purpose of creating artwork that I considered worthy of being called Fine Art.

"Since that time, I have studied on my own: Drawing from live models to learn the human form, studying proper painting techniques from any source I could find ample reason to trust, and developing a philosophy of Art based on reason, and life on earth.

"My goal is to portray the heroic and romantic in human nature and human achievement in a realistic style and a modern setting. I place particular emphasis on composition, technique, realistic detail, proper craftsmanship and consistency of style."