A sense of wonder part b.

Class sketch,
acrylic on canvas
I like how the model created an intense mood

To continue on yesterday's theme. It's a big topic -- how artists
feel when they're painting, and what drives them to paint.
I love people, and I'm intrigued by their faces in particular,
but I enjoy painting the figure too. The way a person sits in a
chair says so much about their personality and mood.

This delight in the human face helps me in my other job
as a teacher too. In fact I spend so much time "reading"
my portrait commission clients' faces, that I frequently
surprise myself with how much I can tell about a person
from facial expressions. Understanding what people
are feeling, helps them to learn.

What can I say? Perhaps my fellow artists and I are
the most unconsciously spiritual beings in the world.
We don't ask to be, we just are caught by the light
coming in a window, or settling on cars, or shining out of
your spectacular eyes. We are in love with the visual.
In that way we are always "worshiping" the world
we live in, even if we never step inside a religious
building.

Have a divinely inspired day.