• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

A Portrait of Harriet

Rival

Si m'ait Dieus
Staff member
Premium Member
Thank you so much! I'm curious. Are there any ways in which you would improve upon it? I can think of a few, but I'd like your opinion. You have a good eye for art.
Honestly my first thought was to texture all the black as though it were a huge mane of hair and put little stars in it.
 

Terese

Mangalam Pundarikakshah
Staff member
Premium Member
Regardless of this privy prudishness, the painting is very good, especially with its use of colour. :)
 

Infinitum

Possessed Bookworm
By itself...that's one thing.
But combined with other people & settings, it can pose risks.
Judging by this thread, I better stay out of saunas with American tourists, that's for sure. It's common here for people of all ages and sexes to mingle, stark naked, in a sauna together without there being long discussions on the optics of it. A person entering a public place naked comes there knowing that a) you are going to be naked, b) it's still a public place, meaning all the usual rules of civil behaviour are in place, plus there aren't dark corners to hide in or whatever the mental image here is about what people think other people do when they see bare skin for someone younger than themselves. As others have several times pointed out here already, there are no optics for it. It's just culture. I can tell it's a shocking idea to many here, but there legitimelly are places in the world where nudity doesn't immediately cause such a stir.

Mm.... When we factor in temperatures, I'm willing to say yes. You're more than welcome to come and prove me wrong, though. :D
 
Last edited:

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
Honestly my first thought was to texture all the black as though it were a huge mane of hair and put little stars in it.

That's so creative -- and it would make such a good painting -- that I might try it. Please remind me of it in a month or so, if you think of it. I'll be about finished with my backlog of requests by then.
 

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
Judging by this thread, I better stay out of saunas with American tourists, that's for sure. It's common here for people of all ages and sexes to mingle, stark naked, in a sauna together without there being long discussions on the optics of it. A person entering a public place naked comes there knowing that a) you are going to be naked, b) it's still a public place, meaning all the usual rules of civil behaviour are in place, plus there aren't dark corners to hide in or whatever the mental image here is about what people think other people do when they see bare skin for someone younger than themselves. As others have several times pointed out here already, there are no optics for it. It's just culture. I can tell it's a shocking idea to many here, but there legitimelly are places in the world where nudity doesn't immediately cause such a stir.
Men, women, children...small farm animals....all would run if I took up the practice.
Besides, sitting still in a sauna for any length of time would be difficult.
I like heat...just couldn't sit still.
 

Epic Beard Man

Bearded Philosopher
View attachment 26769


"Harriet". 14 x 18 inch acrylic on canvas panel (still a bit wet in places at time of photo).




Here's the backstory:

I met Harriet in a coffee shop when she was 15 and I was 40. She was soon tagging along with me everywhere I went. Being slow to catch onto things, I didn't notice how Harriet had begun looking up to me until her mother sought me out one day. Her mother explained she needed help keeping Harriet in school.

I was naturally surprised that Liz -- Harriet's mother -- would seek me out to ask for help keeping her daughter in school, and I asked Liz what she thought I could do about it. That's when Liz dropped a bombshell on me. She looked at me like I was clueless and then told me Harriet had adopted me as a father-figure.

Liz and I eventually worked out how to keep Harriet in school. You see, the problem was, Harriet was bored. So we got her into a program for geniuses -- consequently she became un-bored, and successfully graduated.

Liz popped another surprise on me the day she looked me up. She asked me to take Harriet to Valley View Hot Springs the next time I went. Valley View was a clothing optional resort that I frequented back then. She explained that Harriet was dying to go to the place because she had heard from so many people how special it was -- people would describe the near wilderness atmosphere of the resort to her as "spiritual" and "sacred".

I was astonished -- who expects a mother he's never before met to ask him to take her 15 year old daughter to a nudist resort, "sacred" or not? But Harriet had said so many good things about me, that Liz already trusted me by the time we finally met; so the next time I went, I took Harriet along.

Harriet and I some years later lost contact with each other, but I have an old photo of her that I wanted to paint a portrait from. Tonight, as you see, I finished up the portrait. I hope you enjoy it.


You painted this?
 

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
You captures some sort of essence in this painting ... haven't put my finger on it yet.

The pose. Its super bold. Bald? Bold. :D

I don't like to try to lead people on how to interpret my paintings -- because I think that's up to them, not me -- but for what it's worth, I was trying to capture or to suggest the fact Harriet is very independent. Dances to her own drum. Has a very sure sense of herself. All of that, along with the notion that she's passionate about life.

Don't know how well I did that.
 

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
The color scheme works well.

...I love the colour scheme.

...the painting is very good, especially with its use of colour. :)

There's a bit of a story behind the color scheme. At the risk of boring you, here it is:

When I met Harriet -- and for a few years afterwards -- she went by the nickname of "Grey". She'd been given the name by friends of hers because she was of half-Polish, half-West African ancestry. That is, half-white, half-black, hence, "grey". So that's where I came up with the idea of painting her in greys.

Originally, I was going to do the whole painting in grey.

But then I realized that she would look passionate-less done all in grey. Harriet tends to be aloof, but she's anything but passionate-less. That is, she is passionate about life.

So in mid-painting, I decided to do the other half of her in one of my favorite colors, a version of Conté's sanguine. If you're not familiar with Conté crayons, they are clay sticks. And Conté's sanguine colored sticks have been made famous by their use by almost every prominent artist since the 1800s. Name a famous artist, and you can somewhere find a work of his or hers in Conté sanguine.

However, to me, the even more important thing about the color is that I believe it expresses passion better than almost any other color.

So that's the backstory to the two colors in the painting. Harriet coming to life. Which is pretty much what happened to her as she grew up: She came to life in those years.

You are now permitted to declare that I over-think my paintings. Which is true.

EDIT: I didn't capture the sanguine precisely, just approximately.
 
Last edited:

savagewind

Veteran Member
Premium Member
There's a bit of a story behind the color scheme. At the risk of boring you, here it is:

When I met Harriet -- and for a few years afterwards -- she went by the nickname of "Grey". She'd been given the name by friends of hers because she was of half-Polish, half-West African ancestry. That is, half-white, half-black, hence, "grey". So that's where I came up with the idea of painting her in greys.

Originally, I was going to do the whole painting in grey.

But then I realized that she would look passionate-less done all in grey. Harriet tends to be aloof, but she's anything but passionate-less. That is, she is passionate about life.

So in mid-painting, I decided to do the other half of her in one of my favorite colors, a version of Conté's sanguine. If you're not familiar with Conté crayons, they are clay sticks. And Conté's sanguine colored sticks have been made famous by their use by almost every prominent artist since the 1800s. Name a famous artist, and you can somewhere find a work of his or hers in Conté sanguine.

However, to me, the even more important thing about the color is that I believe it expresses passion better than almost any other color.

So that's the backstory to the two colors in the painting. Harriet coming to life. Which is pretty much what happened to her as she grew up: She came to life in those years.

You are now permitted to declare that I over-think my paintings. Which is true.

EDIT: I didn't capture the sanguine precisely, just approximately.
That is wonderful! You have answered my unasked question, why those two colors. I didn't like the grey as it seemed so cold, but, now I love it! The form is also very good, imo.
 

Vinayaka

devotee
Premium Member
I don't like to try to lead people on how to interpret my paintings -- because I think that's up to them, not me -- but for what it's worth, I was trying to capture or to suggest the fact Harriet is very independent. Dances to her own drum. Has a very sure sense of herself. All of that, along with the notion that she's passionate about life.

Don't know how well I did that.

After further contemplation, I saw it as a portrait of a woman who is 'old for her age' as they say.
 

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
After further contemplation, I saw it as a portrait of a woman who is 'old for her age' as they say.

That's a fitting description of Harriet. She's one of those people who seems more mature than her age. Although, I'm not exactly sure one would call her "and old soul" -- as people sometimes call others.
 
Top