Matti Paints - Subjects Seanna and Tarah

So Tarah has wanted to do this project for a while now...

Feel my excitement.

 So I knew right away that it would be an easier and enjoyable session. But then there was her sister Seanna who has been fighting this idea for a while now, despite the fact that I used her in my promo for the Kickstarter.

PS- for those who haven't seen it yet, what are you waiting for?

So when Seanna showed up with Tarah I was very excited at the prospect of getting to paint sisters again. I enjoyed my experience painting Sarah and Caitlin, so I was curious to see how Seanna and Tarah would end up.
However, one thing I did differently was I painted them both individually. Tarah and Seanna each got their own music to create their own pictures meaning I could take more cues from who they were as individuals rather than work on a cohesive piece. I enjoyed this tactic as it made it easier to bring out their own individual colours and features.

Seanna's Playlist

Tarah's "chill" Playlist

 There were many interesting events that happened in this process. For one, Tarah's colours she picked ended up looking much lighter on her skin than she had hoped, but actually ended up complimenting her in a way that dark colours wouldn't have. Plus I ended up doing some very interesting facial constructions on her face that really brought out her mysterious side. I have to say that after photographing her, I feel she looks a bit like a young Paulina Poriskova.

Seanna ended up with a series of bright colours that reminds me more of Avatar than any other painting I've done so far. Maybe it's the colours. Maybe it's her serene expression, but something about this painting suggests that any moment now... She'll see me.
Ok, that's the only Avatar reference I shall make. I promise.
It's funny when they were completed since they really didn't seem to go together until I put them together.

 The deatil on the shoulder was where the similarities really started to shine through. There's a tree-like quality to the way their arm colours blend together.
Plus after hearing how much their mother was a fan of this project, you know I could never turn away these delightful siblings.
Painting them together was a great experience. We laughed, we cried (mostly me and Tarah because her music choices were very... "chill") and overall I like to believe that I captured them in a very sweet, loving way that shows them as the beautiful girls that they are.

Matti Paints- The Catch Up

So due to some disappointing issues with Book Face I'm going to be making one giant posting here displaying all the pictures with my overall impressions of my last few canvases rather than being able to go in depth with each individual person. I hopes you guys can forgives me.

Caitlin and Sarah P.:
These two delightful sisters were my first duet and proved to be an interesting challenge. First off, what do you do when two people are so incredibly different, but still need to share a picture together? Caitlin is the elder, but her sister Sarah tends to be the more over bearing one. Maybe it's her youth but I found her attitude quite amusing. Maybe I just know too many drag queens now, but she has the distinct air of one. Caitlin I know from working with her, and the two of us had a great time together. Considering I knew Caitlin a lot more, I think this painting was more of an exploration of Sarah. Together, the two of them go well together, but it proved to be an interesting challenge. As such I allowed them to pick out more colours and more songs than anyone else. However, once the painting began, I quickly realized it wasn't necessary. Using so many colours actually made it more difficult to pinpoint a personality, and the extra songs proved unnecessary since in the end, I actually finished at around the same time as everyone else.
Yes, this painting is simpler, but I was aiming for more of contrast between the girls to show their own personalities more. Overall, I think it was successful, and I greatly enjoyed my time getting to know them in such a new and creative way.

Sarah C.:
Me and Sarah are friends from high school, and much like my experience with Jonna, getting to paint her was a fantastic and exciting night. We quickly realized that despite the amount of time that's passed, that our friendship was as strong as ever, and getting to spend the time with her, albeit short, was still time I will cherish.
I love her colour palate since I believe it perfectly matched her soft and beautiful soul. I really wanted to experiment with crafting on her skin, and I think that she's the first time I feel like I've created designs that not only work with the body, but tell a story. As a result, I feel that Sarah's patterns helped to emphasize a lot of the work that goes into these paintings in a way that didn't sacrifice quality. I find with each passing canvas I can work in more and more details, so it's an interesting process to see where these will go from here.

Heather:
Heather was a friend of Georgia, and for the first time after completing a canvas, I actually am disappointed that I didn't get to know her more. I love Georgia, I dearly love her, and when she said that she had a friend who was interested in the project, I was quite happy at the idea of painting a female I never met.
While I believe that Heather is a lovely girl, I don't really feel like I got to know her the same way because the entire experience turned into a three way conversation with Georgia. I don't think this is a problem in any way, but up until now, there's been a certain kind of magic that happens when I'm painting someone. It becomes a conversation without words, a poetry thats told in the body (and that people actually seem to care about). It's been an equal measure of comfort, relaxation, healing and a celebration of the unspoken people behind the paint. Adding a third person to the mix while enjoyable, does have a tendency to steal the thunder of the intimacy and can be detrimental to the piece itself.
I think I captured Heather quite well, especially considering the limited colour palate and the external influences. (Really Heather? Four purples?!) There is something very nice and magical about her though, and I hope to get to know her more in the future.