PAINTING PORTRAITS

One of the best-known portraits in the Western world is Leonardo da Vinci’s painting titled Mona Lisa, which is a painting of Lisa del Giocondo. What has been claimed as the world’s oldest known portrait was found in 2006 in the Vilhonneur grotto near Angoulême and is thought to be 27,000 years old. That’s a pretty amazing fact – and to this day, artists are trying to capture a resemblance of people on canvas.

I used to love drawing Native American faces. The older the better, the more wrinkles and lines in their face just told more of a story of who they were and what they stood for. How could you go wrong? Who would ever know it wasn’t an exact resemblance of them. That seemed okay to me, but when painting or drawing a portrait for a client – that is a different story.

In my opinion, painting portraits could be on of the most challenging tasks to accomplish. In most cases the subject will be a mother, a father, child, grandchild, grandparent, friend, or even a pet. Your client will, with no doubt, know the subject inside and out and for the artist, a mere photo is all they have to render onto canvas or paper the inner essence of this person – unless it’s a live model of course.

Many times the client will have an old black and white photo of a deceased parent or grandparent and just the pencil on paper will create a nostalgic resemblance that is sure to please – one of my more favorite things to do.

One thing that I have found helpful is to try to learn about the person you are painting. I had a client once supply me a photo of two young brothers. One of the boys had a big smile and the other did not. I wondered why the client didn’t choose a better picture. I later learned that one of the boys was autistic. The client told me many amazing stories about this child and when I then looked at him, I saw him differently. He was a beautiful boy with a story.

Of course you will always have the client that wants their face thinner or to make them look younger. I guess that human nature, a little bit of vanity in all of us. Artist Thomas Eakins was known for painting people as he saw them, not necessarily as they wanted to be seen. The camera doesn’t lie, as the old saying goes, but it’s the artists job to satisfy the client.

My most favorite portrait so far is of my daughter and grandson. It was me, for once, being the critical one. I was the one who knew every line, expression and their personalities. It’s all challenging but the outcome is making the person happy and giving them something they can cherish forever.

Thank you for visiting Sandy’s Studio