Bill, 1995, oil on canvas, 91 x 76 cm
Bill, 1996, oil on canvas, 61 x 50.5 cm
Bill Reid and I went to kindreds of life-drawing classes over the years and on occasions we used each other as models. It's difficult to be able to paint a human being from life these days unless you do a self-portrait, have a friend sit for you or receive a portrait commission. The problem is the amount of time needed to do a portrait. Painting a person from life is a great thing to achieve but for this to be possible you do need multiple sittings. Painting people from photographs seems to be the norm in many instances in our contemporary world but it often doesn't produce the type of image I admire. I've often thought if Rembrandt was painting today would he have painted from photographs? Perhaps he might have done but would his portraits have the same feel ? Perhaps not.
