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johnpaulthornton — Missing Child Portrait 20
Published: 2008-06-05 04:49:00 +0000 UTC; Views: 5948; Favourites: 61; Downloads: 64
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Description
The question is... How to communicate flesh under distress?This is a portrait of a missing boy, painted in oil.
It was Inspired by the one inch square black and white image on a "Have you seen me?" mailer.
Who is this portrait really for?
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Comments: 19
Thank you for visiting with the missing children.
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it is absolutely fascinating, the number of different styles you employ. i have yet to see a more compelling gallery than this.
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Thank you. I am glad the missing children paintings are able to communicate to you.
From your gallery, it seems you live a very happy and charmed life! Good for you.
JP
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i love the texture here and the contrasting colours. what do you think of when doing these paintings?
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when i painted portraits, i wanted that same emotional feeling, but i could never achieve it, possibly because my in-depth study focussed more on 'how?' and not 'do it'. i sort of understand how you create these paintings, yet there's an individuality about it - that question you asked about 'who is it for?' really got me thinking. so now, when i paint, i'll ask myself that question, and hope that i get something of raw emotion.
~my friend gave this comment about your work when i sent her the link: "i really like the whole idea. it IS thoughtful of him. i mean, it's a unique idea, and it's genuinely a good gift for all the missing children and their families."
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I think of shape, contrast, of values, the sense of movement, density of pigment, color, edge quality, things I said to friends in conversations ten tears ago, what I want to eat for dinner....
The few occasions I "thought about" the subject or the individual child while I painted led to contrived images. Worse, emotional depression of crippling magnitude.
The real emotional power of these paintings happens in our minds and hearts once they are viewed. I need not force it.
At the END , when the painting is done, I stand back. The image MUST hit me in the gut. It must send pangs into my body. I must well up. Only then do I call it complete. Finally I also imagine a "blanket" of hope upon it and my entire studio.
These are paintings of hope.
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there is something in the colors that hypnotized me...I love the fact that it is impasto, otherwise many would have mislabeled your art as faux impressionism...there i would disagee and defend you to the death...yours are an expressionism of personal warmth and concern...i will always be an admirer of your portraits
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I agree, the colours are amazing.
Who are these portraits for?
What do you do with them when they're done?
To me, you paint them for your own need, because I think you feel that you would want someone to think about in such away after you were gone.
You really do amaze me.
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Your comments and insights are always very thoughtful. I greatly appreciate that.
Thank you.
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The colors in this one are fantastic! The technique that you use has such impressive results.
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Thank you. Color can be restrictive for painters, like walking slowly across a room at a charm school, carefully balancing a book upon your head...
But I prefer to use color as a weapon.
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I like the way your mind works.
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Thank you. This missing child required thousands of tiny marks, many passes. Sometimes the image got too clear, sometimes too soft. This best describes the quality of the image I was working from.
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