OPA Juried Salon Show

I am excited to announce that my painting Father and Son has been accepted into the Oil Painters of America 2013 Juried Salon Show. The exhibition will take place in Petoskey, MI, from June 21 through August 31. For more information, see http://www.oilpaintersofamerica.com/.

FA Fine Art 28th Portrait Show

My portrait, Ethan will be on display at the upcoming Francesca Anderson Fine Art | Portraits North 28th Portrait Show. See below or fafineart.com for details.

What is a Portrait Painting?

Many people ask whether I work from photographs or from live sittings. The truth is that I would love to work from live sittings, but real life makes working from photos more feasible in most cases. However, I do not merely "copy" these photos. The point of a portrait is to capture the essence of the subject, which is always my goal in each painting. A photograph, on the other hand, is a snapshot in time, and can be very limiting in terms of illustrating one's true self.

When I take reference photos, I try and get to know the subject (if I do not already), and take hundreds so that I have plenty of material from which to paint the final portrait. The portrait is usually based on one or two photos only, but having many gives me more insight into one's personality. Here are couple of portraits and their reference photos that demonstrate how I've gone beyond the photo.

Final Scan of CP Portrait

Below is a scanned image of the completed portrait of Elise, 20x16, colored pencil on Fisher 400 sanded paper.

Almost Done...

I'll probably finish this tomorrow and get a scan sometime shortly thereafter.

Getting there

An update on my 20x16 colored pencil portrait (slow progress due to my working on it only about an hour a day!)

Highlights in colored pencil

Here is an update on my colored pencil portrait work in progress. In the past, I used many dark colored pencils for not only shadows, but also highlighted areas, using a light touch. For this portrait, I am using more light colors on the light side of the face, and finding the whole process a lot easier and smoother-looking. I just try not to go too light too soon, or else really bright highlights do not show.