Boy (Portrait of Joel), oil on panel, 58"x 32" |
PORTRAIT PROCESS When you view my portraits, you will not see convention or simple facsimile. Instead, hopefully you will see my interest in the physical representation of a person's personality or history or loves or accomplishments or any combination of these elements. The subject or the subject's family and friends are very important in this process as I depend on them to give me the dimensions missing from a photograph or even sitting sessions. Who is the subject? What does she represent to her loved ones, to the world, to herself? What place is most like home for her: her living room, the sea, the mountains, surrounded by her children?
A patron, whether he is the subject of the work or the commissioner, can expect to be very involved in the portrait process.
I request photographs of the person from babyhood to maturity. We have conversations about the subject and eventually personality and life interests and goals are identified. Many times other dimensions of the person’s life surface and subtly find their way into the painting. The medium depends on the patron’s needs and/or how I see the subject. I work in oil, watercolor or pastel. |
The portrait, any portrait, is just one still instant in a life composed of millions of instants. I think of it as less a stop frame movement and more the sum of all those instants. Some of our attributes are present throughout our lives; some are more fleeting. It is my job to sort through it all, pick and choose which attributes I wish to portray to tell the truest story of the individual. The next step: Portraits benefit from the subject posing while I paint; and yet I find that this circumstance becomes less and less possible for many reasons. I take my own source photographs, that is photos of the subject from many angles, in many environments, during various moods and activities. These in addition to the archive of family images provide a range of identity that help me develop the image.
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Four Sisters and a Bowl of Waxed Fruit, oil |
Young Couple in Splendid Love, watercolor |
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Portrait Process Page 2: Preps and Studio Time
Portrait Process Page 3: Pricing