First corporate portrait

[Linda Nelson]

HI!

It's been a terrifying thrill to accomplish my first corporate portrait. I sure hope this helps opens doors to a new level of client someday. Eric Paulson is the founder and president of Navarre Corp., and he will be hanging this in the front lobby of their newly expanded building this spring. I was lucky to convince him of the whole look for this commission, as we started out with him wanting me to paint from an existing photo taken in a studio. I did the shoot for this with the help of my dad, who is a retired photographer - we tag team well together so one can always be considering compostion/art direction, and the other making sure all the technical chores to make a good photograph is done right. One thing I think that helped -- before going to the shoot I showed my dad a great shot of Georgio Armani and another of the painting or John Kennedy by Norman Rockwell - I was looking for a a look that would combine dash of each. I think it really helped my focus, even if it was subconcious.

The size is 45 " wide x 54" tall.

[Linda Nelson]

close up

[Michele Rushworth]

Wow! This is fantastic, Linda. Congratulations!

[Marvin Mattelson]

Great job. Very powerful. You and your dad should tag team on every painting. I think this is by far your most successful painting and the strongest head. I really like the way you integrated the figure into a complex background and still maintained his dominance. I sure this will be the first of many corporate commissions. Congratulations.

[Terri Ficenec]

Linda, Congratulations! It's beautiful!

I can just feel the chill in that crisp Fall air.

[Chris Saper]

Dear Linda,

Congrats on a terrific painting! It looks very Minnesota to me, as well it should.

Would you mind commenting on how you painted the suit, ie color ,sequence, etc.?

[Linda Nelson]

Thank you very much guys, It's really really encouraging. Marvin, this is another painting done with the Paxton Palette. I think I did the face in two days, with one extra day at the end to for tweaking. Again, thanks.

I have to confess I love having this chapter of my life to share with my dad - he is helpful, challenging, encouraging, and when he tells me how I should do something, well I either advance because he's given me good advice, or I advance because I see my own vision with more conviction and have the desire to explaining the why behind it. May I confess that I thank the stars that I could get into this career while this window of chance to involve my dad was still open.

Chris, I kinda just guessed at how to approach the suit. When at a Peggy B.'s workshop last year I remember her saying it involved an execution of layers , and adding blue layers for a black coat. And then this December I spent a week with Allan Banks in Sarasota, and he mentioned "sneaking up on it" through layers as well. so that's what I did - laying in the overall darktone, then being rather extreme in declaring the highlights, mids, darks and reals darks, then going over that in a glazing sort of way to temper all of it and get the richness without losing the dimension. I have no idea if this is the right way to go about it, but I think that the silk suit really looks like a probably an expensive piece of fabric and construction.

Oh by the way, the yellow scarf in his pocket was actually a yellow leaf folded up.

[Marvin Mattelson]

It's gratifying to know that even though you're using my palette you're still able to create such a strong painting.

[Garth Herrick]

Linda,

Congratulations! You have a stunning and very successful portrait. It is very inspiring.

You have a masterful composition. I always feel that a generosity of space surrounding a strong figure can speak volumes about success and power, just as much as Mr. Paulson's commanding pose does. The two leaning trees add much to the compositional dynamics, and they compliment and anchor the trousers by their similar scale. There is also a subliminal quality in the composition that suggests a forward directional flow of movement from the left to the right.

There is much worth studying in this portrait. Thanks for sharing it.

Garth

[Linda Nelson]

Garth -

Thanks! I hadn't thought about the relationship of the trousers and tree trunks, but I can see that now. The interpretation I have regarding the trees, beyond him being a "strong oak" of a man, is that I find the other "oaks/men" bowing to the environment... whereas the man is standing upright and comfortably against the "pressure" on the trees. I see that as analogous to him as an independent thinker, who stays strong when the pressure can bend even the strongest of others.

At the the same time, those trees help the eye move right, which jives with the direction he's standing, so he looks more like a visionary and less an antagonist.