During the first half of 2023 I went through a major period of portrait painting. This surge of painting started when I saw a portrait of Winston Churchill in a cafe on Lake City Way. I talked to the owner of the cafe, and she said it was a gift from a customer. I looked at the portrait, and thought, I can do that. I had already completed a couple of successful portraits, as well as a huge self-portrait, so felt inspired as well as capable of doing more.
I completed the eight portraits below in sequence. I felt like I was onto something and was getting better as I moved along. And as an added incentive to my efforts, I managed to sell 5 of them. Three were just ones I did based upon my own interests (Churchill, Einstein, and Marilyn) and then was commissioned to do the Bridget Bardot and Maria Calas. Not a bad run. People do like portraits.
This was my first try at a portrait based upon a photograph. My two previous portraits were based upon paintings, Anders Zorn and John Singer Sargent self-portraits. Why is that important? When copying an existing painting, the painter of the original has solved all of the problems of executing the painting. When working with a model or a photograph, there are hundreds of decisions to make around how much to include in the painting. It could be an attempt at a completely realistic painting or a simple caricature. A portrait could be just a few pencil lines or an Albrecht Dürer level drawing. The same could apply to a painting-- few details or all the details possible. My working from photos was a big step.
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| Winston Churchill |
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| Albert Camus |
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Lilibet
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| Jackie |
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| Marilyn |
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| Mr. Universe |
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| Maria Callas |
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| Brigitte Bardot |
I could say more about each of these but will leave it at that.
Keep working!
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