I have been focusing on commissions lately. Today, I am beginning the final steps in a commissioned life size portrait which is meant to be a surprise for the sitter. The only way to paint a portrait as a surprise is to do it from photographs, which requires many oil sketches from direct observation of other models to use for reference. Pictured here is the beginning of a quick oil sketch of my son.
The conversation about how and why paintings are different when done from photographs or from direct observation is vast. I always include lessons related to an understanding of how these two types of painting differ when I am teaching-however now is not the day to write about it.
Today my focus is completing an almost finished portrait.
