Monday, January 5, 2009

New Portraits

I was able to shoot two portraits today and post them up. What's interesting to me is - here I am painting people, some of whom I've never met before and painting them directly from a photograph that has popped out at me as being "the one" I want to paint. However, I tend to go through the individuals other posted photographs to get an idea of their true skin tone and other details that this particular photograph may miss, color of their eyes, hair color, etc. It becomes especially difficult if the photograph is low resolution or if it's from a camera phone (which typically distorts most colors). The challenge is fun to work through and while I may not get it right, there is a reason why I am drawn to the quirkiness of the pose or the inanimate prop or the washed out skin tone or the expression of the person at that moment in time. The finished portrait is part mirror image, part interpretation and judgment and I wonder, right or not, will they like it.

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