Finally! Finding Faith Project Unveiled: the Video, Photos and Painting

Over a month in the making, and my "Finding Faith" project is finally finished! I named it Faith is Waiting For Spring and it is a three part art project using painting, video and photography to tell a simple story.  I have always loved to dabble in photography and with my new-found love for videography, I had the idea to connect them with my painting and this is what materialized.  

I really hope you enjoy the video and photos and especially the surprise ending in the painting!
:)

 FULL details on the making of this project are below for those of you who want to know more.  I know who you are and it was written for you.  

Thank you for looking!

♥ Lisa

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Faith is Waiting For Spring

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Video: click to play

Faith is Waiting For Spring
oil on canvas
30 x 24 inch

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 Details About the Project

working in the studio

As you know, if you follow my art, I am a figurative and narrative painter and often paint intuitively (where the story unfolds by itself as I paint) or by creating scenes using vintage photos.  However, I had a new idea for my approach and that was to create the story with the use of video and photography, and then attempt to paint it.   In all honesty, this whole concept started with finding the 8 mm app for my iPhone.  It is the same app I have been using to make my "Studio Clips" videos, and it has me hooked on video making.  It's kind of funny to me how such a big idea can come from such a small thing like finding an app, but that is what happened.  Plus I have always loved taking pictures, so this project provided a way I could sort of tie these arts together with my love of painting. 

  The video and photographs took only 1 1/2 hours to shoot, but took over 10 hours to edit because I was very picky and kept changing my mind about the clips of video I wanted to use. Plus, selecting the music took a while.  I needed something slow since the whole theme was about Faith waiting for "Spring" to arrive. It is amazing how music can make or break the mood!

My beautiful niece, Faith was my gracious and willing muse and we did the shoot in an open field in the middle of Benton, Kansas.  I found her dress and the small props at a thrift shop,  borrowed the table and chairs, and  I made the flower crown myself.  I was pretty excited the day of shooting because everything turned out exactly as I had envisioned and the weather was perfect!  

My friend and gallery owner Teressa Sliger helped me locate the property after I sent a text to her one day to ask if she knew of any "Andrew Wyeth-looking places" out in the country where she lives. (My all time favorite painting is Christina's World, and the Kansas landscape looks exactly like that painting). So Teressa took me driving around one day trying to locate the perfect spot for my project and I ended up selecting the first one we saw.   I have to point out here what a great friend and support Teressa was to do this for me...indulging with me on my what had to seem like such a crazy creative whim.  She questioned me very little and just rolled with it.  Had she not done this, I might have just chucked the whole thing aside labeling it as a dumb idea, but her interest and enthusiasm helped push me forward.  Also, the property we chose was private property and we were not sure who owned it, so she offered to meet us out there on shooting day to keep watch for anyone that might question what we were up to.  We had to lug the table and chairs a long ways off the road to the tree that provided the main part of our stage and Faith and I were a bit nervous about trespassing.  I  imagined poor Faith being hauled off to jail in her pretty dress and flower crown, and me having to explain to her mother what had happened.  But having Teressa there helped us relax as we worked.  She assured us it was not a big deal to be out there and it wasn't.  We never saw a soul for the entire hour and half we were there.

After the photos and video were complete I busied myself in the studio attempting to capture the scene in the painting.  Since I do not paint realistically, this was a challenge for me.  I had to keep reminding myself that my job was to capture the essence, not every single detail.  Also, I knew from the start that I could not make Faith look like Faith.  I had already tried painting her face over and over again in my sketchbooks.  I decided that if I could at least capture the scene with just a likeness of her I would be happy.  I worked in oil because it is easier for me to make adjustments.

   Being outside, collaborating with people, taking photos, shooting video...it was such a fulfilling way to work in art!  Plus working with all the images from the photos and video,  and physically having been in that location provided a lot more information for me to work with, which for some reason seemed to make the painting process flow more easily. However, I can't always work this way because it is so involved.  From time to time though, it will be fun and I love the challenge.

Didn't Faith do an incredible job?  She is a natural beauty and she just knew exactly what I was wanting for the video and photos.  She was such an easy model to work with and I could NOT have done this without her!  We had so much fun that day and I am happy to say we are already scheming for the next project.  I just need to find a red flannel shirt somewhere.  :)

Thanks for reading.
xo