The eighteen year commission
Last year, my friend Madeleine had a baby.
But before Oliver was even born, Madeleine had big plans for his face.
She had already decided that she will have me paint her boy every year until he turns eighteen.
And though I may seem biased in this, I think that’s a really cool idea!
For one thing, I get to follow the development of Oliver’s facial expressions and character.
For another, it’s a luxury to be able create portraits that capture just a year in the life of the subject. Normally, I try to represent something fundamental about a subject in general, to create a portrait that has a lifetime of meaning, but, with Oliver’s portraits, I know that every new version will have the context of the others to support it. That means that each painting can focus on the year it’s painted, and that’s exciting.
I am also eager to see how the yearly check-in with a portrait painter will influence Oliver’s conception of art and of himself.
Last year for my photo session with Oliver, I spent an hour or so taking pictures of a little blob full of milk whose face mostly conveyed contentment, with a brief moment or two of frustration and a dollop of unfocused wonder for good measure.
I made my first portrait of Oliver based on this last kind of expression, the fuzzy fascination of a baby who is only a few months old.
This year, I re-met Oliver by spending the day with him and and his family at the coast.
And now that I’ve photographed a toddler this way, it may be hard to go back to the hour long photo session! There’s something so fun about witnessing the many moods of a fifteen month old and learning about the daily challenges and joys of being so young.
In any case, I can’t wait to get to work on Oliver’s new portrait!
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CATEGORIES: - Portraiture - Practice - Process images -
(3) Comments / Commentaires: The eighteen year commission
What a fantastic project. Not only will it be a wonderful creative journey for you, the portraitist, but Oliver’s family will always treasure their collection. Keep us posted.
Thank you both! I certainly will keep you posted as I go.
June Chavez...
Oliver here, answers a question of-are the cheribic faces of angels rendered by master painters real or imagined by the artist.Oliver is proof, for me, that they were real children as he has all the delightful facial qualification-nose distinct,cheeks that hang as low as his chin and a flower bud mouth.Angels,that I paint in a naif style adorn my walls. They are the classic rendering line drawings that I buy from Dover Publications. Your blog is amazingly intelligent and is useful for the French that I continue to study and inspiration for the decorative painting the I do.Thank you—June
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