Please paint my dead mother

[Madelaine Boothby]

I am a relative newcomer in the world of portraiture. I have painted a little from life (not enough!) and a lot from photos.

Suddenly friends and family all want me to do a portrait painting.
Can someone here talk to me about "artistic license?" When you paint a portrait, do you flatter the person? do you nakedly show their double chin and signs of age?

I have begged people to NOT give me flash photos, but that is generally what they have. And in the case of the dead mother, there aren't that many photos to choose from.
And what about makeup? So many women think they look their best with purply-rose colored lips and eyeshadow that reminds me of the protective coloration of so many butterflies.
Thanks for anything you have to say about this.
Mimi

[Richard Bingham]

Originally Posted by Madelaine Boothby

. . . Suddenly friends and family all want me to do a portrait painting.

It's great to be in demand! Make the most of it, and profit from your popularity either monetarily, or via opportunities for gaining valuable experience.

Originally Posted by Madelaine Boothby

. . . talk to me about "artistic license?" When you paint a portrait, do you flatter the person? do you nakedly show their double chin and signs of age?

There are no "rules". From time immemorial, portraits have run the gamut from visual character assassination to shameless flattery. Much depends upon your relationship with the client, and what they expect. To be true to one's self artistically, it is no more "true" or "virtuous" to be deadly accurate in accentuating negative aspects of the sitter's presence than it is to make them "prettier" than they are in fact. A painted portrait is always a statement by the artist, and should convey something more of the sitter's persona than the mere superficial patterns of light and color which form a likeness . . . as snapshots do.

Originally Posted by Madelaine Boothby

. . . .I have begged people to NOT give me flash photos, but that is generally what they have. And in the case of the dead mother, there aren't that many photos to choose from . . .

You are the artist, you get to control the situation. You can politely defer working from bad snapshots, and suggest a series of life-sittings under your control, or take your own photographs for reference, where you have control of form-lighting. There is a recent thread here on posthumous portraits you may find instructive.

Originally Posted by Madelaine Boothby

. . . And what about makeup? So many women think they look their best with . . . . colored lips and eyeshadow . . .

Again, you may exert control over this as a condition of taking a commission. Sometimes, flattery is effective . . (. e.g., "Your eyes and natural color are most beautiful without makeup. Please allow me the pleasure of painting you without your "painting" yourself first.") Problems with makeup is a question of degree. I've had sitters who wore so much makeup I couldn't even properly see the shape of their eyes. A little lip gloss, a touch of rouge or powder, a hint of mascara tastefully applied is usually not a problem.

[Claudemir Bonfim]

I paint what I see, but as mentioned before, there are no rules. I also paint from life, if that's not possible I insist in taking the photographs myself, in case of posthumous portraits I use as many photographs as I can get from the subject. If reference materials are too bad, I turn down the commission.

[Madelaine Boothby]

Thanks both of you for your response. I finished the first made up lady. I had a lot of trouble (as I expected) from the makeup, not wanting to make her look silly; but then I understated the eyes, which was bad, and finally ended up painting in some eyelashes. I was not able to reproduce the glittery junk on her eyelids, nor the odd colors in the eye shadow.
I don't want to make a copy of a photograph, I want the watercolors and my own work to make its mark. I hope that makes sense.

[Christy Talbott]

Hi Madelaine,

You've gotten some very good advice!

I've had the same issue to deal with several times-- composing a portrait from bad photos of someone who has passed away. I personally have much difficulty painting from a flash photo and will not do it any longer as a rule for my own self. It's just not worth the trouble. Usually portraits made from a flash photograph look ghastly to my eyes. Although I know it is possible to produce a successful painted portrait that way (I've seen it done), it must certainly be the exception rather than the rule and only the very best artists can pull it off I think.

That said, I have had pretty good results doing pencil or charcoal drawings using poor quality photos, flash and otherwise. You might want to give that a try.

Christy