I paint what I see. Without exception.
Then again, I am almost always charmed by what I see, and this tends to skew my portraits a little towards loveliness! At least, I think it does: others disagree.
A few years ago, a local critic asked me about my “rather unflattering” works. It was the first I’d heard that evaluation applied to my oeuvre as a whole. Until then, individuals had pointed out now and again that I’d been less flattering to certain subjects. But I couldn’t think that I was an unflatterer across the board...!
In the end, it is, of course, all in the eye of the beholder, but I do have two theories about why people don’t necessarily always think that I flatter my subjects.
1) Though I never include temporary skin blemishes in a portrait (which is the most obvious form of unflattery), I also don’t always choose an expression that people would like to think is representative of their loved ones or themselves.
2) I have been accused of flattering male subjects more than female ones, but I won’t stand for this criticism at all. As I see it, my works often show people at their most dynamic and character-full, two states of being that are allowed and encouraged in men and not in women. Women in images (and sometimes in life) are pushed to be ladylike--tranquil, still, and without remarkable features except for an overall appearance of loveliness, which ideally brings into focus either her large childlike eyes or her luscious and youthful lips. When I show female subjects moving and breathing and alive with all the character that their genetic makeup gave them, it’s not always considered flattering.
The subject of the following portrait gave me one stipulation for her portrait, and one that I was happy to follow. She wrote in a recent email exchange “make me look beautiful (and not necessarily on the outside)!”
The initial line drawing on the primed bag.
The bag was painted with Stephanie’s mother in mind. Wendy prefers earth tones and blues, and Stephanie’s favorite color is green, so this side of the bag is a combination of their preferences. The other side of the bag takes into account Sara’s fondness for red.
The first blush of color.
Beginning to create the illusion of volume.
Throughout much of the process, I left the eyes virtually untouched. Stephanie’s eyes are alarmingly light-colored and clear, and I wanted to be sure that the final portrait emphasized that.
Because I have to make sure that a bag portrait functions as a bag and as a portrait, I leave the canvas fairly raw. Though it isn’t always easy to paint on a surface that pulls the moisture from my brush with such alacrity, in this case the raw canvas was a boon.
To finish up the portrait, I left the whites of Stephanie’s eyes raw and then sealed the pupils with a heavy coat of titanium white. When I washed the pupil in a watered-down phthalo green, the portrait’s eyes took on the luminous quality of the girl’s!
This Is Not A Bag (Stephanie)
2008
acrylic on one side of a canvas bag
13 x 13 inches
(detail below)
Stephanie’s sister, Sara, appears on the other side of their mom’s tote.