Working on the head of a human being is to ask myself, "what am I hoping to say". So often it seems that all that I am saying is that I can paint a human head. Do I want it to have a likeness or the trade sometimes for me is expressionism or neither? I find myself in love with expressive brushwork, thick paint application, definitive values and lovely color. Then I catch myself still trying so hard to be technically correct and in the process lose it all. I often complete a painting out of the pure exhaustion of just not getting it right and settling. Then after a while I examine what I learned and often it is that at some point in painting I lose my original focus of expressing what I see. That is funny in a way. Holding on to that creative flicker without extinguishing it with a head full of information, is the challenge. I sometimes just blow to hard and poof, it's gone. So I practice, practice, practice to let myself go.
