A Nightmare Portrait?

[Dan Saunders]

Hi everyone,

This is my nightmare portrait. Why do I call it a nightmare? Because 2 years ago the same client hired me to paint a posthumous portrait of her mother. All went very well. But in this portrait of the same client's father, she wanted the same background and fading effect at the bottom as her mother's. The problem was, the background on her mother's portrait went well with the subject's facial tones as well as her attire. It does not match so well with her father's.

I tried to explain this to her but to no avail. She also wanted a dark suit with no markings on the tie or suit. I suggested at least a faint pattern on the tie to add substance to the attire. I was told no.

The likeness is excellent (everyone says so, not just me . But I am unhappy with it because I know that from an artistic point of view, it fails.

Has anyone else experienced this and if so, how did you handle it?

[Dan Saunders]

Here is a close-up.

[Rochelle Brown]

Dan,

You seem to be asking for a critique. To my eye the color scheme seems fairly balanced. The blue of the sky goes nicely with the man's silvery grey hair and the smokey dark grey to the right picks up the black of his suit. I think you did a good job fading the bottom part of the suit. It is a simple composition and may well match the other portrait you mentioned. I don't object to reasonable requests from clients. As portrait artists we are working for hire. Is it possible for you to post the other portrait as well? Also, seeing the photo reference would be helpful. I found the most distracting thing in this painting to be the blotched skin on the forehead.

Sincerely,

Rochelle

[Dan Saunders]

I actually had very few blotches on the face to start with. The client kept insisting that I add more until she finally said fine, that's good.

The likeness wasn't the problem. I was just frustrated by the insistence on leaving parts of the portrait looking unfinished or undeveloped -- in my opinion. anyway.

Here is her mother's posthumous portrait.

[Steven Sweeney]

Dan,

I concur with Rochelle's observations about the piece, as well as her reticence to offer a critique, as the Unveilings sections aren't set up for or intended to solicit that kind of response. If indeed you were looking for input of that sort, you'll likely find it more readily by posting your images in the Critiques sections.

As I view this piece, I find it hard to imagine that it wouldn't be a good likeness -- he looks exactly as I would "expect", whatever that means, given that I've never met him or seen the reference photo. But the "drawing" aspects seem quite good.

[Dan Saunders]

Thank you all for your input. I know that I should have placed this under critiques, but I think I was venting more than anything else.

I guess I am frustrated because I feel he deserved more of a "stately" appearance. And artisticly, the suit and tie should have been lit in such a way as to show roundness at the shoulders, etc. The basic principles of light and shadow.

The client, however, wanted it just dark, no highlights. I guess I felt restricted.

Also, these are the first works since recovering from a badly broken right hand (yes I am right handed). The gentleman in the painting is the same age as my father would have been and their birthdays are close to the same day. My father passed away a little over a month ago.

Oh wow, I think I just figured out why I wanted to do this painting so perfectly.

Thanks everyone and sorry for venting my frustrations here. I will be more careful in the future.

[Steven Sweeney]

Oh wow, I think I just figured out why I wanted to do this painting so perfectly.

Funny how that works out sometimes. There's often more than meets the eye to our work, our Forum participation and posts, and our motivation and intentions regarding this whole business. I suspect that much of the time we're not even aware of some of those undercurrents (some of which are riptides).

Sorry to hear about your dad. I lost mine way too soon, a long time ago, and I think I miss him more now than way back then. A pretty creative fellow, he'd have been very pleased that I took up painting. Maybe it was he who "pushed" me in this direction.

[Dan Saunders]

Thank you Steve. Both my parents encouraged my art as far back as I can remember.