Painting the human form from life is my favorite type of painting. The emotional interaction - my thoughts about what to capture and how to portray this other individual – makes this type of painting more challenging.  It is more challenging technically, because yes, I do wish to make the artwork resemble the person, especially for a commissioned piece. It is more challenging emotionally because I am interpreting another human soul within their form.  It is important to me to create a likeness, but I do not want slavish detail to rule my expression. I want my handiwork to be seen in the piece, the imperfections, because in my opinion it shows the imprint of me, the artist, the human, to the viewer.  It is like looking at two pies (one of my favorite desserts) one with a handmade crust and one with a machine- produced crust. The handmade crust shows the time, care, and love of craft that went into making it that the machine can never duplicate. I want my paintings to show my efforts, even the imperfections.

For my portrait pieces, I work from life and photographs. I work in both pastel and oils, and have a range of prices, including payment plans. I offer a variety of formats, from monochromatic studies to full color portraits.  Most pieces require a minimum of one month’s time for completion depending on the size and medium.  Please see some examples on my Portrait page.

 

For my portrait work I work from life and photographs. I work in both pastel and oils, and have a range of prices, including payment plans, starting at  $500.