University President
 

Here's one of my recent commissions, a portrait of Dr. Constantine Papadakis, President of Drexel University. Oil on linen, 54" x 40".

The official unveiling will be in late May, but I'm posting this now because I heard the good news yesterday that this portrait will receive a Certificate of Merit in the 2007 PSoA Competition!

It was a pleasure to work with Dr. Papadakis. We easily agreed on the pose and setting, and he posed for a head-and-shoulders oil study, which helped tremendously in the process of getting lifelike, accurate color and understanding his head in three-dimensions. A lot of busy clients are reluctant to pose and do not understand how important this can be to the artist. But Dr. Papadakis was very appreciative of the process and the result. I felt very good about working with him when he came to my studio to view the completed work and said, "This is not just a copy of a photo, it's a real painting!" Many people would not care, but he did and that made a huge difference.

Bravo Alex!
 

Congratulations on your deserved recognition! This is a marvelous, penetrating, and true portrait. I have been witness to its development in your studio, and I think you did everything right, here. I can vouch this is absolutely no copy of a photo; not at all. You carefully designed the whole space, not as a camera recorded it, but in your mind's ideal. It too has your distinctive characteristic of cascading depths of space, perfectly staged to best support your subject's importance. And he is so alive and vital! Very, very well done!

Garth

Alex,

This is wonderful! You have gone through a great deal of trouble to make what could be a stock university president portrait into a beautiful painting in itself. No mean feat! The composition and integration of the marble elements is just great. This deserves the award it got and more.

I was visiting one of the hospitals in Boston last Monday, a saw some paintings of the big wheels of this major hospital, behind some servings of crumpets. They should have called you.

Garth, thank you for your glowing assessment now and for your encouragement while it was on the easel. As for your claim that I did "everything right," I not so sure, but I did put a lot of effort into making all the elements work together. He has a very vital personality so I think it was a relatively straightforward likeness.

Sharon, thanks! I'm allergic to stock portraits of any kind. Unfortunately they abound in this area, too. Jefferson University Hospital just unloaded Eakins' Gross Clinic ,unfortunately--at least it's in the art museum now. But Drexel University, where this is going, has a really excellent collection of portraits and landscapes, which we should see if you come this way.

What could possibly have topped this? Doesn't get much better. I especially like that painting of the bust, wouldn't ya know. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful painting Alex!

Oh, Alex, it is just fabulous!

The composition is spectacular and I feel that he is a charismatic man I'd love to meet.

Well-earned congratulations!

Thank you, Heidi and Chris!

Heidi, I admire artists like you who can actually create something in three dimensions--unlike myself, who can only paint the illusion of a 3-D object or subject. Anyway, I'm attaching a closeup of the bust (sorry, the resolution isn't great, since it's just a enlargement of the original jpeg.)

Chris, I am sure he would appreciate your reaction. He is a very dynamic leader, both visionary and practical, and I quickly saw why he brought Drexel out of a financial and academic decline 10 years ago and made it a thriving and exciting university with new law and medical schools. I wanted the portrait to reflect his power and also tie him to the historic origins of the school.

Alex,
I like very much the way you handled the face (among the other elements, of course, which also have technical mastery)...real and lifelike and expressive. From what I

I'm no expert, but I can see that this is beautifully done.

Congratulations Alexandra. :thumbsup:

This is so beautifully painted, Alex! And so well-designed in so many ways. I congratulate you on your vision, fine craftsmanship and your success in portraying the humanity in your subject. I'm delighted you're receiving an award for this one.

Thank you Carlos, Dan and Linda!

Carlos, I did work mostly from photos, as I usually do with this kind of commission, but Dr. Papadakis did pose for a 1-1/2 hour oil sketch, and that was very helpful when it came to putting down the correct color notes in the face and really being able to "read" the photo. You can read about the process and see the sketch in the WIP section.

Dan, what makes you say you are not an expert? Fake it till you make it. Seriously, you are as good as many experts and I value your opinion.

Linda, I appreciate your support. It means a lot. It's hard to pull all those things--vision, craftsmanship and feeling--together and keep them in mind while we are painting. We have to keep challenging and encouraging each other!

Alex, what can I say except congrats the hard work has brought its rewards and you truly deserve it. Well done! I am glad that you had the man sit for you and in this way you were able to capture the right hue within the values. Once more my sincere congratulations.

Terrific news, Alex! Will look forward to seeing you there.

This is a stunning portrait. The color is superb and lifelike, and the entire painting is a treatise on edge quality.

Wonderful work!

Mischa and Tom, thank you so much for your very generous comments. It was a lot of wok and there were many elements to coordinate. I guess I would call it a treatise on edge quantity :sunnysmil :exclamati As for quality, well, I'm never satisfied with my own work but I'm glad you see something worth looking at, Tom. It's so much easier for me to admire other people's work than my own.

Yes, I'll see you at the conference!

Congratulations on a very well balanced portrait !
Not beeing satisfied is a good way to go further, to never loose the desire to try new possibilities, and to do a better job day after day...
For this one, your job is finished, it's our job now to admire it as it is !

Thanks, Marina, I'm glad you appreciate the balance.
I agree, this is so important. There's always some new idea ready to be born. Hmm. . . that reminds me of your baby paintings. Interesting!

Alex, I admire the way you did this very much.The complex composition , and the welcoming look of the man and the colour of his suit ...everything so well done. Many congratulations.

Grethe, thank you so much. I admit it was an ambitious composition. I could picture it in my mind from the start, and the perspective was not too challenging, but I think the most challenging part was pulling it all together, thinking about degrees of detail of the different parts in relation to one another, and how each decision I made affected the way the attention was focused (or not) on the subject. And I don't want to downplay the help I received from members of this Forum in the WIP section.

Congratulations Alex,
I agree with everyone else that this portrait shows your mastery of juggling the many elements of a complex motif into a balanced composition.
The model looks very much alive because of the subtle temperature shifts in the complexion. I was surprised by the yellow- greenish shadow in his face, but it works very well.

Thanks, Allan, I appreciate what you say. It was quite an experience painting the face because, for some reason, the color in the life study differed radically from the color in the digital photos. Usually I find that the digital photos record the color, but do not (at least in the prints) show brilliance of illumination or color accents. That I have to supply myself, and if I have done a color study from life I have a record of how the light and color appeared to me. but in this case the color was actually different. The cool greenish light on the shadow side of his face was coming from a skylight in the center of the building. It was quite strong in reality, but it hardly appeared at all in the photos. I first painted it in as it was in the life study, but Dr. Papadakis felt it was too strong, so I toned it down, striking a compromise between the life study and the photos.

Beautiful and compelling
 

Congratulations! I am in awe of your skill and talent. The honor and recognition is well earned.
Thank you for revealing this here for us to appreciate.
Sandra J Quintus

This is absolutely beautiful Alexandra! I was so happy to find the thread about it's progression, it was wonderful to see it unfold.

Alexandra ,

I have been watching the paintings wonderful WIP on off and enjoyed how you shared and tackled each step. I also would like to join and offer my congratulation.

Thank you so much, Sandra, MaryEllen and Enzie! It is so nice to know when other artists appreciate a painting, and the WIP, too. The process is truly as important as the product. I'm sure that's why we all love to paint. Whenever I post my progress, I receive lots of helpful and thoughtful suggestions that have a significant impact on the final outcome, so it's always worth taking the time and effort to do a WIP.

Unveiling
 

Last week was the unveiling ceremony. It was a lovely event in the garden of a private home, folowed by an elegant dinner. In the photo below are, from left to right, Dr. Papadakis, me. and on the other side, Mrs. Papadakis and board member Joseph Jacovini.

Today the portrait was hung in its permanent home in the main building of Drexel University.

It looks like a nice event!
What a great idea to make an outside unveiling, the colors of the portrait look great in natural light...
Congratulations, Alex!

Congratulations, Alex,
you did a very successful job and the client is happy too, I see :thumbsup:

Thanks, Marina and Allan!

Amazing, Alex!

Alex, my sincere congrats and the recognition well deserved

A really wonderful piece! You have such a lovely clear, warm light, Alex and such a real sense of space around the figure. I also really enjoy the shadows you've created so convincingly. And such competent, rigorous marks, but at the same time so relaxed and happy. Super work, Alex. I hope you'll get some time to rest in between all the other prestigious commissions and award receptions this is sure to bring!

Thank you, Thomasin. It would be nice if this brought some more work. It was a very enjoyable experience from start to finish.