[Chris Saper]

Dear Aldo,

I find your observations interesting, with which some I agree, and some I don't.

I also find it a strange dichotomy that the portrait societies' winners tend to be appreciatively different from the multitude of commissions that keep American portrait painters busy and booked up well - often years - in advance. Despite what the portrait societies' judges may like, and choose, the business and economics side of portraiture, certainly here in the US in fact is driven by demand, most of which commands higher prices than, at least from what I can ascertain, are paid in European countries. Of course, there are always exceptions.

I realize from your other posts that you appear to be in tremendous demand for commissions in your country, and I really do congratulate you on this. However, I would suggest, if only from my own experience, that the bulk of American clients are not artists, nor are they critics. They are people who find and hire portrait artists because of someone they know, love, and respect, and wish to see portrayed in that light.

I have also found that the portraits I have painted for my own portfolio fare better in national competitions than those I have painted as commissions. To this I would say I am appreciative, because the acknowledgement from other painters is really special. It, however, has absolutely nothing to do with my work as a commission painter. I have never met a single potential client who wants me to paint the kind of portrait I presume that you hold precious. And I would never give up the relationship I have with my clients and being able to please them for the approval of someone who would not hire me.

I choose to have a close relationship with my clients. If I didn't, I would direct my efforts toward inventory ( aka gallery -controlled work) Fortunately, any given painter can satisfy both masters, if he or she so chooses.

You may have noticed in the title line for this website, the word, "traditional" . The SOG members are essentially full time professional painters in the business of portrait painting. Most of the participants in the Forum likewise are interested in painting work that pleases clients, not in the business of deciding that our clients' taste is somehow lacking and should be changed.

Does this have anything to do with your thread? Sure. But do realize that there are many other internet forums that are dedicated to the "purity" of artistic taste. This site is about quality, but it is also very much about the business of portraiture. There's a place where they coalesce, and that is , at least to me, what we are about.