[Chris Saper]

Hi Morris,

I think it greatly depends on whether you are painting a commission or an inventory portrait.

If you are painting a client, I think it is best to just ask...it would be rare for anyone hiring you to be unaware of physical irregularities he or she may have. I can think of a couple of examples...a client who had some facial paralysis and a very 'lazy' eye. I spoke with him and commented that his eyes were not entirely symmetrical..how would he like me to address this? I also had a client with a scar that was impossible not to notice, and likewise spoke privately and directly about how to deal with it.

In my getting to know clients, I now routinely ask them to tell me the two things they like best about their face, and the two things they like least. I find that sometimes my perception about the subject's beauty, and the subject's own aren't always congruous.

On the other hand, if you are painting genre or figurative, or simply sample inventory, not to please a client, then it is up to you, since it is your painting. It is the nature of the human eye to seek symmetry...if you paint a subject, unknown to the viewer, with asymmetrical features, it will invariably be perceived as "wrong".

Chris

ps I must remark also that this kind of client interface is perhaps quite different from the more spontaneous interaction that might characterize some of Lon's clients...and that I do definitey agree with him in this regard.