Two of my portraits were chosen for an online Art Exhibit entitled "Human Nature."
I will post a link on April 1st and talk more about these two particular paintings.
For today I am reminded how much emotion is invested in a portrait. I truly feel that without some level of love for the subject, even when the person you are painting is a stranger, their human nature could not be portrayed. From the arduous task of stretching the canvas, the will to first strike the white with a colorful mark, the anxiety of first showing the "mother" your portrayal of her children, the ...."I don't like her teeth."....."can you fix her hair?"...."can you add more color over there or over here?"
I once did three large canvases, one child on each, and had to totally start over on one of them because the mother didn't like the ears.
There comes the day when the parents are satisfied, maybe a little surprised by your effort. The paintings are delivered, hung on the wall they were intended to fill. It is at that holy moment all the pain it took to create them makes sense when the children laugh at their likenesses and the mother smiles. Its Human Nature.
