Details, details…

When we’re young, our faces are smooth: it’s only as we live and grow that we accumulate details.  Painting a child’s portrait is difficult specifically because of this lack of detail.

“I represent myself.”

This phrase isn’t just a euphemism for “I’m an artist without gallery representation.”  It’s a better way of looking at success as a working artist. 

The definition of art

There’s only just the one way of defining art.  I’m certain of it.

Art should appear effortless.

And that isn’t to say it should be easy to make, only that it shouldn’t show signs of struggle. 

On view finding and voice finding

A camera is every kind of artist’s best friend.  I may not be a photographer, but I still like having my camera handy.  I’ve found that taking photos is an excellent way for me to train myself to notice details as well as practice designing compositions, both skills that I need for painting.

This is not my portrait.

Or, I mean, it is my portrait, but I’m not the subject.  I painted it.  When someone talks about their portrait it’s usually of them and not by them.  Who has more right to feel possessive a portrait?  The artist who is its author, or the subject who is, in a sense, its other author? 

Imitation is NOT the highest form of flattery.

But this self-portrait by an admirer of my work has nothing to do with imitation.

One small step for a portrait…

...and one giant leap for portraiture!

Why allegorical portraiture is the SUPER GENRE

An allegorical portrait unites a sitter’s likeness with the attributes of a character from literature or history.  The best of this genre references something outside the subject as a way of revealing still more about the individual portrayed.  These paintings bring together two of our favorite things: faces and stories.

The origins of allegorical portraiture

Though a much-demeaned genre, painted portraiture has always had its defenders, in the name of both its money-making potential and its ability to tell an important story.

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